


Assembled Disaster

by Dblukauskis



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Asgard, Avengers - Freeform, Avengers Tower, Betrayal, Bonding, Falling In Love, Feelings, Hurt, Love, Team Bonding, Team as Family, Teamwork, fight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2018-08-12 22:32:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 36
Words: 94,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7951735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dblukauskis/pseuds/Dblukauskis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Agents have gone missing, a new threat is coming, old enemies are willing to help and the safety of the world is now in the hands of a group of mismatched young people who just happen to be the kids of the Avengers. </p><p>The Maximoff’s, Sam, Vision, Scott and Bucky are not included :S sorry!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It Begins

**Author's Note:**

> The Maximoff’s, Sam, Vision, Scott and Bucky are not included :S sorry!

The night had settled down over the city, lights were already illuminating the streets as a few cars drove by, rushing to get home, rushing to continue with their lives. A few people walked down the streets, safety always roared louder in the suburbs, but still no one noticed the lonely figure that stumbled down the street.

His feet were trying to keep his balance as his brain fought to stay awake, to stay alert and focused as the pain rolling though his system became sharper with every breath he took as his body guided him towards one of the Victorian houses down the street.

He had done this hundreds of times before, it should have been as easy as breathing, and yet here he was, struggling to keep his eyes open, struggling to remember the way home; but despite everything, he had to retain every single detail he still could remember, he had to tell the others, he had to warn everyone about what was coming.

About the danger.

The lights inside the house only made his heart warmer for a second, he tried to smile as he stumbled towards the porch, this place had changed his life, had changed everything about him; had made everything better, had made him want to make the world better.

“Please” he whispered into the cold breeze of the night, a white puff slipping out of his lips as his hand fell over the handrail of the stairs of the porch.

A sting of pain shot up his torso and spread through his chest, he gasped for air, doubling over as his fingers curled around the handrail, his knuckles turning white. His body shook, tears streamed down his face as he closed his eyes; how had he allowed this to happen? They had trusted him and he had lead them all to a trap and now he had no idea where they were, or if they were ok.

With his lips parted and the blood rolling down his shirt as he clutched the side of his ribs as he pushed himself up, he reached the top of the stairs and dragged his feet towards the door; towards the place he had called a sanctuary, the place his friends had visited several times, the place he had seen his family grow.

His bloody finger landed over the doorbell, pressing at it with force as he felt his knees wobble under his weight.

Everything was starting to be dangerously off focus now. The man coughed and watched as the blood fell on the welcome carpet. He rang the bell once more; he didn’t hear anything inside, but he could smell cookies and his heart shined through the pain that was starting to take over him.

The door swung open, the lights from the inside blinding him and the smell of fresh baked cookies filling his lungs as the face of his beautiful daughter came into view; her brave eyes suddenly horrified as he stumbled forward and she grabbed him before he stumbled down to his knees, pulling her down with him.

He didn’t hear her scream for her mother or for her brother, he wrapped his arms around her neck, burying his face in the brown curly locks of her hair and he felt her body shaking as she patted him; trying to figure out where the wounds were.

“Amy” he whispered, he lifted his head and she moved her ear closer to him.

“Daddy” she whispered back, he could hear the breaking in her voice. “MOM! BEN!” she screamed before he could speak again.

He didn’t hear the falling of footsteps from the second floor of the house as they rushed down to see what was happening.

“Assemble the Avengers” he whispered before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and Maria came rushing down the stairs.

“Steve!” she cried out into the night, as people went on with their lives.


	2. New Recruits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being called to the Complex.

Damara sat outside the van, her legs up to her chest and her arms around them as she looked out into the horizon; the sun was disappearing rapidly and the temperature was dropping fast, but still the young woman took a deep breath as she propped her chin over her left knee.

Next to her, sat her laptop, her most trusted companion when she was out there in the desert watching the stars; a love she had gotten from her mother and that only had intensified when she had finally learned the truth about her father. She heard the fall of footsteps and turned to look over her shoulder, Jane was standing a feet away from her, hugging herself into an old sweater.

“It’s gonna get colder than last night” Jane pointed out.

“Yeah” nodded Damara “I can feel it” she looked away, the sun was almost gone and the stars were making their way out to decorate the night like diamonds in the sky.

Jane stared at her daughter’s back, the young woman was just a bit taller than her mother, with her hair a bit lighter than Jane’s but other than that there was no question that they were mother and daughter; but when people got to know Damara better, they realized she had strength like no one should, she was faster too and Jane loved everything that Damara had that could be traced down to Thor.

Her father visited, he came down to Earth more than Jane knew he should, he had another family, the family she had pushed him into forming; the family Asgard needed, the family Odin had always wished Thor would have.

Sif was a good woman, she was great to be honest and she knew about Jane and Damara just as much as Jane knew about Sif and the three kids Thor had with her; it pained her sometimes, when Thor came down and they talked, she would always love him, he would always be the one, the one she had pushed away.

But despite her heartache for Thor, and despite the way he looked at her, with the love he looked at her, Jane was happy; she had her daughter, and she had Darcy and she had the stars, but most importantly she had her daughter’s love.

“I’m going to get some sleep” Jane finally spoke, Damara looked over her shoulder once more “We could head back home tomorrow”

“Ok” nodded the young woman, she smiled. “Goodnight mom”

“Goodnight, Mara” smiled Jane, she turned on the ball of her feet and headed towards the van once more.

Damara waited until her mother was inside the van to turn her attention to her laptop, she had been getting strange readings all day but she didn’t want to tell her mother, she didn’t want to let Jane think that maybe that meant another visit from Thor.

The young woman scooped up the laptop and stretched her legs before placing it over her lap, she clicked on the readings and cursed her mind for not asking her mother to get her a better laptop when Jane had been at Stark Industries. Damara growled and ruffled her hair as she clicked down over one of the panels; the computer chirping and then suddenly freezing.

“What the fuck?” she whispered, she looked up at the sky just to make sure the stars weren’t going to rain down on them before she turned to the computer.

The screen turned black for a split second before the computer started to work again and a notification appeared on the top, the young woman frowned, this was a computer that had been tested by Stark Industries to be undetectable.

With caution, Damara clicked on the notification, her email opening up, even if she was sure she had logged out a few hours ago, and her heart sank to her stomach when she read the delivering address.

Her finger hoovered over the mouse pad before the sound deafened her, she screamed and fell back on the ground just before the night cracked and the light exploded in every direction; blue and golden with red and green. Damara covered her eyes for a second, kicking away the computer as she sat down, Jane threw the door of the van open just as Damara jumped up to her feet.

“Mara no!” cried Jane as her daughter started to sprint towards the Bifrost; the woman covered her eyes and looked down to the discarded computer and she sucked in her breath as she saw the logo of the new email staring back at her.

SHIELD.

 

___________//____________

 

Mary lowered her gun, a smile over her face, she was finally getting a hold of the different weapons around the base; she placed the gun over the small table and pushed off the protection glasses and dropped them next to the gun as well. She turned to her left, her pitch black hair waving around her in a ponytail as she turned to look at her best friend, Sebastian was lowering his gun and there was a successful smirk over his lips.

“Nice shot” smiled Mary.

“Thanks” he smiled as he turned to look at her, he placed the gun down and walked towards her “I think we should go now”

“We are already late” shrugged Mary, “We are always late”

“I am never late” pointed out Sebastian as the pair started to make their way towards the very end of the shooting range “You just delay everything to piss me off”

“I never piss you off” snorted Mary.

Sebastian pushed the door open and held it like that until Mary walked out, the sun was high and burning everything under it; the young woman squinted and covered her eyes, their car was just a few feet away from them.

“You know the General hates when you are late”

“The General hates everything” sighed Mary “And don’t worry about him, I’ll deal with him”

Sebastian glanced at her before he pulled open the door of the driver’s side open and stepped inside; since he was Mary’s best friend, he had been asked to drive her to lunch with the General at the General’s private housing, but like every Friday, Mary had tried her best to be late.

The young woman rolled down the window and smiled as the wind blew inside the car, her friend maneuvering the car like a mad man as they made their way towards General Ross’ house; Mary had gotten used to Sebastian’s driving and she was pretty sure that the only reason he got away with it was because he was Mary’s best friend.

“You know” she spoke as he took a curve “One of these days we are both gonna get hell for your lack of driving skills”

“Please, I drive perfectly”

“Yeah” she laughed as she turned to look at him “If this were _Fast and Furious”_

Sebastian chuckled but rolled his eyes as he slowed down, the house of the General coming into view; Mary had gotten used to short distances in the base, of course that was because she had spent most of  her life living there with her grandfather.

“You know” said Sebastian as he stopped the car “You’re gonna have to talk to him about our trips, sooner or later we are gonna get caught you know that”

Mary looked at him and gave her friend a sad smile “I know” she nodded “He just doesn’t want to understand”

“He can’t keep you here if you don’t want to be here”

“What about you? Huh? I can’t leave you here”

“This is my life, Mary” he smiled at her “This is where I belong, this is not your place, you were meant for greater things” he reached out to her and placed his hand over her knee “The fact that he is afraid of you doesn’t give him the right to keep you here, to keep you away from him”

Mary nodded but turned to the door, she couldn’t do this right now, she pushed the door open and climbed out of the Jeep; she made her way towards the house, the sensors scanning her before the door was opened and she walked inside to find General Ross standing with a woman next to him.

“Grandpa” she smiled at the man.

“Mary Banner” spoke the woman, she took a step forward and stretched her hand out to the young woman, Mary looked at her and shook her hand “My name is Melinda May, and I am here because we need you”

“Need me?” she made a pause “What’s going on?” asked Mary, she turned to look at her grandfather and then turned to the woman, her grandfather had always emanated confidence and even sometimes he scared people, but this woman made her grandfather look small.

“SHIELD needs to talk to you” explained the woman “There is a Stark Plane waiting for you if you choose to come with me” Melinda made a pause as she saw doubt in Mary’s eyes, but Melinda had a trick under her sleeve. “Your father is already waiting inside the plane”

Ross’ head snapped towards Melinda, hell fire burning in his eyes, he opened his mouth to bark, to order that Banner be handed to him but Mary, whose heart was slamming against her chest answered rapidly.

“Let’s go”

 

___________//____________

 

Tatiana pushed her auburn hair behind her ear as she took a deep breath and released the arrow, it flew from her sophisticated bow, cutting the air and landing soundlessly in the head of the dummy, just as she had intended; she smirked and reached back for another arrow when a small pebble hit her fingers.

The young woman snapped her head to the left, her brother was sitting a few feet away from her, a knife in his hand and his eyes focused over his twin sister; she raised an eyebrow at him and he smiled as he showed her another pebble he had in his other hand.

“What?” asked Tatiana.

“Someone is coming” he explained.

“What do you mean?” she lowered her bow and looked over her shoulder.

The training area they had chosen that time was deep inside the woods, the fresh snow made the place a great training area with a medium level difficulty.

“I saw someone walking through the trees” explained Shane, he turned his eyes towards the place he was mentioning and Tatiana followed his sight “You need to be more alert”

“And you need to practice more” pointed out Tatiana without looking at him “Being good with knives doesn’t mean you don’t have to practice more”

“I don’t like snow” shrugged Shane, he narrowed his eyes “We should be getting a view in a few seconds”

It didn’t worry her that much that someone was making their way towards them, the siblings could take down almost anyone and if the person knew their exact location it was possible that it was someone from SHIELD:

A pebble hit Tatiana again, this time on the side of her face, just below her eye, the young woman hissed and turned to face her brother, but Shane was looking at something else; with a frown she turned to follow his sight and rolled her eyes.

“Phil?” she asked, she pushed herself up to her feet, dropping the bow “You could have hit my eye”

“No I wouldn’t” he shrugged and walked towards the brothers.

Tatiana turned to Shane “Talking about being alert, he could have killed us if he had been the enemy”

“I was always good at stealth” shrugged Phil, but there was something in his voice that made Tatiana’s skin crawl.

Shane pushed himself up, the butt of his pants damp from the snow, another reason why he hated being there so much; he crossed his arms over his chest as Phil looked at him, the young brother and sister were the exact combination of everything that was good and deadly about two of the agents that Phil managed.

“What’s going on?” asked Tatiana, she had always been more observant to people’s behavior than her brother ever was.

“Fury wants to meet with you at the Avengers Complex” explained Phil, he pushed his hands into the pockets of his coat.

“That’s like a ten hour flight, why cant we talk in the SHIELD building here?” asked Shane.

“He’s not only going to talk to you” explained Phil. “Others will be there”

“Is this about mom and dad?” asked Tatiana.

Phil turned to look at her, her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail that was coming undone, he could feel Shane’s eyes drilling into his skull.

“Yes” answered Phil.

“Are they dead?” asked Tatiana.

“We don’t know” Phil explained, he wasn’t going to lie to these kids.

“What do you mean…

But Phil cut right through the sentence before Tatiana could finish “Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton have disappeared from the radar” he turned to Shane “Now, a Stark Plane is waiting for us, I think I don’t need to explain the seriousness of the situation”

“You don’t” nodded Shane, he bent down and grabbed his duffle bag before he turned to his sister, the young woman was picking up her bow and bag.

Tatiana looked at her brother as Phil turned on his heels and started to walk, Shane held her gaze, they knew this things could happen, especially since their parents were still working for SHIELD as active agents but nothing could ever prepare you to the moment when someone came to look for you to tell you your parents could be dead.

Shane crossed the space between them and laced his fingers with Tatiana’s and gave her a squeeze, Tatiana looked at him and gave him a short smile; they had learned to compartmentalize their emotions but it didn’t work that well when it was about their family.

 

___________//____________

 

Victoria doubled over, placing her gloved hands over her knees as she took a deep breath through her mouth; sweat rolled down her neck and her forehead. She closed her eyes as a stinging pain shot up her torso, she hated this, she hated training but most of all she hated training with her brother.

“Can we just stop?” she panted, she looked up at her brother, he was standing against the ropes of the boxing ring. “I can’t do this anymore”

“You are lazy” sighed her brother as he rolled his eyes.

“You need to shut up” she hissed at him, dropping her gaze to the floor once more, with one last breath she pushed herself up straight and untied her right glove with her teeth.

“Just for today I’m giving you a break” he said as he untied his gloves just like Victoria had done “But just because dad wants to talk to us”

“Fine” Victoria dropped the gloves on the boxing ring and walked towards the ropes, expertly she ducked and stepped out; the gym was anyone’s dream, of course anyone except Victoria. “You know what he wants to talk about?”

“No” her brother followed after her, her gloves and his under his arm “He got back today, remember”

“Yes, clearly” she turned to her brother and threw him the water bottle she had just picked up “Mom was on edge until he came back”

“Yeah, well, you know how he is” shrugged the young man.

“Yeah, but he never leaves in the middle of the night and less of all without telling mom where he is going”

“I know”

There was a silence as the brothers looked at each other, dark eyes against clear ones as the young man took a drink from the water bottle before handing it to his younger sister; the young woman took it but looked around the room before she spoke.

 “Where is he?” her brother saw a small frown over her face.

“Dad?” asked he asked.

“Of course not, Howard” she hissed “My droid” 

“He’s in your room” he answered, rolling his eyes “Where you left him” he raised an eyebrow "And he is not yours, he helps everyone" 

“I didn’t leave him there, we had a disagreement and he’s hiding”

“You can’t have disagreements with him”

“Says who?” asked Victoria.

“He can’t even hide from you” her brother sounded exasperated “He’s the AI of the whole complex, Tory, he can hear you right now”

“It’s complicated ok?” she shrugged “And he has a body now, which means he can hide”

“You are so weird” whispered Howard, “So weird”

He walked towards the bench in the gym and grabbed his light sweater, training sessions with his sister were always more than anyone could bargain for; after four personal trainers had quit, Pepper had asked Howard to step in and help her train; using a suit was much more than just allowing the metal to wrap around you.

“How was the meeting?” asked Tory as she walked towards her brother, she took a gulp from the water as she sat down over the bench.

“It was fine” he shrugged “I was just there because mom barely slept last night”

“You know it wasn’t just that” Tory shrugged as he looked at her by the rear of his eyes, her blond hair pulled back in an intricate braid, he raised an eyebrow at her “She’s prepping you, Howie, they both are”

“Prepping me?” he asked as he pulled the zipper of his sweater on and the proceeded to pull the hoodie over his head.

“To be the next CEO of Stark Industries” Victoria rolled her eyes and grabbed her own sweater that lay carelessly over the bench.

“You don’t know that”

“Everyone knows that” she smiled at her brother as she pulled her white shirt over her head and dropped it over the bench, leaving her in a black sports bra and matching black boxing shorts.

He looked down at her as he pushed his hands into the pockets of the sweater, he knew she was right, if it came down to the two of them, Tory would never get the big chair of Stark Industries offered, no matter how brilliant she was.

Tory grunted as she pushed her arm down the sleeve of her purple sweater, Howard looked at her and waited until she pushed herself up to her feet; she looked at him and smiled before she pulled the hood of her sweater up and they started to walk towards the elevator.

“Howard, Victoria” the voice came into the gym effortlessly, Tory rolled her eyes at the way her name sounded a bit harsher than Howard’s.

“Jarvis” said Howard as he pressed the elevator button.

“Sir would like to see you at the conference room” Jarvis answered.

“Thank you” smiled Howard.

“You see” snorted Victoria as she pushed her hands into the pockets of her sweater “He’s upset at me”

“Oh God” he rolled his eyes, not really wanting to hear why Tory thought that Jarvis was, once again, upset with her. “Just get in the elevator” he added as the elevator beeped and the doors opened up for them.

The doors closed behind the siblings and Howard pressed the button that would take them to the fourth floor, Tory turned her body to face Howard.

“You see what I was telling you about?”

“Tory” he hissed as he turned to look at his sister “I hear another thing about your fight with Jarvis I swear to God you will not see the end of training next week”

Tory gasped and frowned “Rude” she turned away from him just as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened up for them.

Tory walked out and Howard followed her, the floor was devoid of any other presence and that only made Howard a bit more anxious as to why Tony wanted to see them at the conference room; it wasn’t until they were taking a curve to the left that both of the Stark siblings heard the voices.

Howard and Tory shared a confused look before Howard grabbed the handle of the conference room and pushed the door open, Tory walked inside first and stopped in her tracks when the voices stopped and everyone turned to look at her and Howard. Howard closed the door behind them and took a step to stand next to his sister, it was kind of the protection instinct kicking in, even if he knew all the faces there, although they hadn’t seen most of them in years.

“The Starks” said Fury as he stood up, Tory and Howard looked at him before Tory looked at the other faces, taking in all the details that she could before her eyes landed over her father. “Have a seat please”

Tory took the zipper of her sweater and pulled it up just below her chest, suddenly wishing she had had another shirt there; she turned to one of the empty chairs and walked towards it with Howard walking behind her.

Fury watched as Howard and Tory sat down, he had known three generations of Starks and he had to say that Howard was the perfect combination of looks between Howard Sr. and Tony with the clear eyes of Pepper Potts, he knew Howard was just as bright as his parents and his grandfather, but the thing that he had been more relieved to learn first handedly was that Howard was just like Pepper; he was calm and cool and thought before he acted. Victoria on the other hand looked just like Fury was sure Pepper had looked when she had been younger, except Tory had Tony’s dark eyes and just like his intelligence, Tory also had the chaotic combination of the destructive personality traits her father had and all the good things Tony had to offer.

“ _Ying and Yang”_ Fury had thought once when the siblings had been at SHIELD.

The man looked around the room, the faces of men he had grown to care about even before the original Avengers Initiative started, and now here where their kids, children he had seen grow, children he knew where exceptional just like their parents.

Fury had seen all of these kids grow, and if assembling their parents had proven to be difficult, this would be just as hard and nerve wrecking.


	3. Strangle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new recruits get information and Tory tests Howard's patience, among others.

Howard looked around the room, a gut feeling creeping into his system as he realized that Victoria and himself were probably the only two people in the whole conference room to not know what was going on; the young man pushed the hood off his head and leaned his forearms over the table as he turned his attention to Fury.

“To what exactly do we owe this reunion?” asked Howard, he knew all the people around the table, Bruce Banner was a constant guest at the complex and Tony’s personal lab and for a few years he remembered having playdates with some of the young people there.

“Eight days ago” started Fury, Jarvis helping with the displays and holograms that popped up behind the intimidating man “Agents Romanoff, Barton and Rogers were asked to follow up on a lead of strange frequencies near the border of New Delhi”

The map of the city appeared with photos of different locations, a few photos appeared to be from the information the three agents had been sending SHIELD.

“Their mission was simple” continued Fury, he expertly tapped over one of the displays and the image zoomed to a building on the outskirts of town “They had to extract a piece of technology that contained the information about the changing frequencies” he made a pause “We lost contact the day after they extracted the target”

Fury turned to look at Tony and all the eyes followed to Iron Man, Tory frowned and glanced at Howard before turning to look at her dad.

“After being unable to make contact for 2 days, Mr. Stark and Colonel Rhodes were asked to search the area and they found this” an image of a piece of metal appeared for all of them to see “Asgardian metal”

“So that’s why he left in the middle of the night” whispered Tory as she leaned towards her brother, her eyes not leaving Fury.

Tatiana shot Tory a glare but Tory ignored her, it wasn’t like she was saying something that wasn’t true.

“But the three agents were not found, their Quinjet they had been assigned dropped from the radars and we had nothing from them until two nights ago” Fury turned to look at Amanda and Ben Rogers. “When Captain Rogers returned home”

Tory looked at Tony, he looked down at the pen he was holding, his whole body screamed tension and pain; his eyes were distant and Tory knew something bad had to have happened to Steve because Tony was worried.

“Is he alive?” asked Tory as she tore her eyes away from Tony and locked them over Fury.

“Jesus Christ!” gasped Howard as he turned to look at his sister.

Damara and Mary looked just as shocked as Howard by the question, Bruce had glanced at Fury before turning to Tony while the Barton Twins and Amanda Rogers seemed ready to take down Tory.

“Yes” answered Fury calmly “You could say so”

“What does that mean?” asked Howard, glaring at his sister one last time before turning to Fury.

“He was wounded with some sort of poison that was killing him” Bruce jumped in “We had to put him in cryostasis to keep him alive” he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose “To stop the spreading of the poison until we figured out a way to help him”

“What about Natasha and Clint?” asked Howard, obviously the Stark siblings were the only two that didn’t know what was going on.

“We still don’t know” sighed Fury. “But its by request of Steve Rogers that you are all here, before being put in the cryo chamber he said danger was coming, he asked for the Avengers to assemble, to keep earth safe” he stopped moving and the displays behind him disappeared “It’s never been a secret to all of you that you would eventually be asked to take the place your parents currently have, I would have preferred it under different circumstances but here we are” he looked at each of the young people.

Silence fell over the room, of course Bruce, Thor and Tony had always been aware that eventually SHIELD would ask their kids something like this; all of them had exceptional abilities that couldn’t be found anywhere else.

“Ok, well I have a few questions” said Tory, her voice oh so casual, and Howard made an effort not to groan, this was the type of thing that made people dislike Tory almost instantly; the blond leaned over the table and laced her fingers together as she looked at Fury, “But the most important of them all, what exactly do you want us to do?” and Howard was surprised that no one jumped across the table to strangle his sister.

 


	4. Lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Howard shows the group their rooms.

“Since the files from SHIELD and Mrs. Foster will arrive in about two hours” explained Howard as he lead the group of young people down the hallway “I’ll let you all get settled in the rooms you have been assigned and then we can regroup on the seventh floor of the west wing”

Ben glanced at Amanda, their house was big and cozy and it had the perfect mix between modern and classic decor, but this place seemed like something that had popped out of a sci-fi movie; the SHIELD headquarters had nothing on this place.

“Jarvis is always available to help you with anything,” continued Howard as they all walked towards one of the elevators “Jarvis, these are our new guests”

“Welcome to the complex”

Damara glanced up at the ceiling, the voice resonating almost as if an actual person was standing there with them; she glanced at Mary and was relieved to notice that the young woman was just as impressed as she was.

“Thank you” answered Ben to Jarvis, Tory’s head instantly turning to him.

This was not exactly what Tory had been expecting when Tony had told them he wanted to talk to them, of course she had never in a million years would have guessed that Steve Rogers was so close to death or that Clint and Natasha had gone missing. She quickened her pace and positioned herself next to her brother, because from all the things that she had from her parents, the one thing she didn’t have that her brother did, was that Victoria Stark had just about zero people skills.

“I obviously understand that this is a distressful situation, so I’m sure you don’t want the tour to the complex” Howard stopped and pressed the elevator button “But just to keep in mind, the east wing is where the gyms, the pools, the training arenas and the labs are, the west wing has the offices and conference rooms as well as part of Stark Industries offices and the north wing is where the living areas have been accommodated”

“Shit” whispered Shane, if he thought SHIELD was big, this place was twice that.

“Your things have already been taken to your rooms” Jarvis interjected “You have all been accommodated in the sixth and seventh floor”

Howard nodded and smiled, this were not exactly the circumstances he would have liked to be under when he got to meet his new team members, but there was no changing that now and if they had to make every second count in order to help Captain America and find the whereabouts of the two missing agents.

Tatiana wasn’t surprised to see that the elevator, like everything else in the complex, was big enough to accommodate all of them at once; the doors closed as she looked at them and the young woman couldn’t help but wonder if just like Tony Stark, his kids were as brilliant. She had joined the new SHIELD at the age of sixteen and she was great at her job, so she had seen the things Tony Stark had accomplished from a young age.

The elevator took them up, the group standing in awkward silence, they had known each other when they had been children, they had played a few times but then, they had all drifted into their own thing and to come back to a place where they had known each other but were now strangers was always difficult.

The elevator stopped on the sixth floor and the doors opened up for them, Howard stepped out and turned to look at the group just before Jarvis jumped in to help

“The Rogers, Miss Banner and Miss Thorinson have been assigned this floor”

Ben glanced at his sister but walked out first, the others followed after him, all of them too sharp at the edges, making the tensions grow.

“Tory, show the rest their rooms” said Howard as he looked at his sister.

“What?” she gasped, Howard took a deep breath but Jarvis acted before Tory’s mouth could and the doors closed separating them and taking the elevator up to the seventh floor with Shane and Tatiana next to Tory.

Tory pushed back the hood of her sweater just as the doors of the elevator opened up for them, she stepped out and the Bartons followed after her; and Tatiana had to admit that with every new room they stepped in, the Complex surprised her every time.

The elevator opened up to a wide corridor, as they walked down it, the corridor opened up and transformed into a living room, a green couch sat with its back to them and in front of a huge TV screen, a few single arm chairs and puffs were around the living room as well as coffee tables and as they walked by Tatiana noticed bookshelves and a computer.

“Ok” Tory turned around rapidly, Shane almost crashing against her. Tory took a step back from the young man and turned to look at Tatiana “My brother and I have the rooms to the left, there are two other rooms to the right, and those will be yours”

“Thanks” said Tatiana, her eyes drifting from the living room to Tory, the young woman up close looked a world afar from what Tatiana had seen in pictures of her.

“Of course” nodded Tory, the awkwardness in her voice palpable “Well, I’m gonna go shower, anything you need ask Howard or Jarvis”

And without another word, Tory spin on her heels and marched down the hall to her room, her braid bouncing behind her as she walked away from the Barton twins.

“You’d think she’d know manners considering her last name” pointed out Shane.

Tatiana shrugged “Doesn’t matter, we won’t be staying here long anyway”

The young woman started to walk down the corridor that would lead to her room, she wondered how many people had come and gone through this walls; she knew her parents had lived here for about five years or more but it was hard to imagine someone calling a place like this home, the distances from one room to the other were huge and if Tory and Howard had their rooms on this floor, where did their parents sleep?

 

___________//____________

 

Ben sat down over the bed in his room, the two bags he had brought were sitting at the other end of the room; the young man looked around, the room was a white canvas and Ben was sure it was meant to look like one so that its new occupant could make of it whatever they wanted.

Of course Ben knew he wouldn’t be staying there for long.

He took a deep breath and for the first time since his father had stumbled home, bleeding and mortally wounded, Ben started to feel the toll of all the things that had been happening; they had contacted Fury the second Steve passed out and thanks to Maria’s expert training she had been able to stabilize Steve until Fury arrived with help, Amanda and Ben hadn’t slept since that day, their mother was staying at the place where they had their dad and now they had to deal with finding a cure to that poison while they tried to find were Clint and Natasha were, not to mention they had no idea where to begin to look.

He sighed and dropped back over the bed, he looked at the ceiling and wondered if it had been this difficult when his father had meet the other Avengers, had it felt like they were all just mismatched pieces of a puzzle? Had he felt that he just didn’t belong with them? Had he felt like he would be better off by himself?

Ben had gathered a few things from the rest of his new team and yet he felt like he wanted nothing to do with them, he didn’t want their help, yet he knew that he without their help there was no way they would be able to help Steve.

He closed his eyes, sleep starting to consume every part of him, his body suddenly didn’t weight a ton and his eyes didn’t hurt and his brain slowly started to stop thinking about what was going on and before he knew it, he had curled over the bed and had fallen asleep.

 

___________//____________

 

Howard looked up from the laptop he had over his legs with his feet propped over the coffee table in the living room of his floor, Tatiana was standing at the other side of the table looking at him; her auburn hair had been set free from the tight ponytail but her eyes remained as piercing as before.

“Hey” said Howard, he had showered and changed into a pair of jeans and white shirt.

“I think we should gather the rest of the group” she explained, she had changed her SHIELD uniform for a pair of what Howard was certain were Yoga pants and a dark blue wife beater.

Howard looked down at the time on his laptop and then looked at her “The files from SHIELD haven’t arrived yet, but we could start heading over”

“We can’t focus all of our information in what SHIELD will bring us” she pointed out.

“I wasn’t going to” he shrugged, he closed the laptop and placed it over the sofa before he pushed himself up “My dad asked Jarvis to run some tests on a few things they found when they went to look for your parents”

“Does Fury know he found these things?” she asked, a frown over her face.

“Of course not” he shrugged, he walked around the table and towards her “Jarvis, display please”

A blue small display appeared in front of the pair and Howard zoomed into it expertly, his fingers had learned how to use these things before he had even learned how to speak properly.

“If what I’ve seen from Thor and what he has brought from Asgard, I won’t bet all my money that this is Asgardian metal” Howard explained “The composition is not the same”

“But its not from Earth?” Tatiana crossed her arms over her chest and turned to look at Howard, her eyes intense.

“No”

“Then where….

But before she could answer, a blinding light exploded outside the building, the windows rattled and one exploded; Tatiana’s training kicked in and she grabbed Howard’s shoulders and threw him down to the floor just as he was covering his head with his arms. The young woman closed her eyes, but she could still see the colors of the light behind her eyelids as yet another window exploded and the pieces of glass rained down on the pair as they curled over the floor, just before both Howard and Tatiana heard a scream.

Howard pushed Tatiana’s protecting body off him just as his blood froze in his veins, he could have known that scream from across the world and he would always run towards it no matter how dangerous it was.

“TORY!” he roared before he pushed himself up to his feet and started to run, Tatiana pushing herself up and dashing after him as the light vanished.


	5. Funny Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone still remembers Tony's jokes.

Tony was dashing up the stairs towards the sixth floor when Ben and Mary intercepted him, parts of his suit were flying behind him and wrapping around his body like a second skin as they reached him; even in such a situation, Ben had to admit that the way the metal hurried after Tony was simply beyond beautiful and brilliant.

“What’s happening?” asked Ben, alarm all over his voice “What was that light?”

“There’s an intruder on the top of the tower, this tower” Tony explained just before the plates of metal emerged from the neck of his suit and covered the sides of his head and face; “Stay here! Jarvis, seal the windows!” he ordered a second before the metal mask flew between Mary and Ben and closed over Tony’s face.

And before Ben could argue with anything, Tony was flying out of the shattered window.

Ben stared at the window for a second before he turned to look at the young woman that was standing next to him.

“Come on!” he cried, adrenaline shooting up his body.

He wrapped his hand around Mary’s wrist and pulled her after him as he started to run up the stairs, the roof of the tower was just four floors above them.

The pair hurried up the stairs, glass was shattered throughout all the floors and as they passed the seventh floor, metal started to emerge from the floors to cover the broken windows that could become potential entries to the threat; it was then that Mary realized one of the reasons her grandfather hated Tony so much, he would never have the technology that Stark Industries had, he would never be able to find Bruce if Tony was there to protect his friend.

Mary’s heart was beating madly in her chest, not because of having to run the stairs, but rather because she wasn’t ready for this, she had never trained for this; yes she had lived in a military compound where she had learned how to use a gun among other things, but whatever was waiting for them up there was something that she was sure she had never trained for.

Ben shoved the door of the last floor open, the light from the day hitting him directly in the eyes as he pulled Mary out of the building and to face the imminent threat that was waiting for them.

Six other figures were standing out on the roof, Tony was standing a few feet in front of the group, his red and golden suit shining under the sun as he raised his arm towards the intruder, ready to blast at him if needed.

A few feet behind him stood Tatiana, Shane, Tory and Howard and Mary was surprised to see that Howard and Tory also had gloves similar to Tony’s raised towards the intruder.

Howard glanced to his side, ready to step in front of Tatiana if needed when he noticed the young woman was holding a gun in her hands.

“Where did you get that?” he asked.

“I had it with me all along” she answered, her eyes not leaving the figure in front of them.

“Ok” spoke Tony, he took a step forward and Tory did the same “I’m gonna ask you just once” with his other hand he pointed at the knife of considerable size that the figure was holding “Put down the sword, Reindeer Games”

“Ah I see you haven’t changed a bit, Man of Iron”

Tory glanced at her father and then turned her attention to the man in front of them, his raven black hair swaying around his shoulders gently as he looked at Tony and his grip around the sword loosened for a second before he held it tighter.

“Put it down” said Tatiana.

Loki’s attention snapped towards the young woman with auburn hair, a smirk spreading over his lips instantly, he raised an eyebrow and shifted the sword from one hand to the other.

“Does it look familiar?” he asked as he turned to look at Tony.

Howard frowned; even from the distance he was standing he could see the resemblance with the metal that Tony and Rhodey had found when they had gone looking for Natasha and Clint.

“Ok, enough!” barked Tony, he didn’t have time to deal with Thor’s crazy brother, again, and less of all that day.

The blue blast from the suit shot out with force, Ben flinching at the bright color; but Loki moved with a grace and an agility that were representative of Asgard, the blast brushing past him as he rolled to the side.

Tatiana didn’t lose her chance, she pulled the trigger the second she saw Loki move, rage was boiling up her body, the metal matched Loki’s perfectly and there was no chance she was going to allow this man to leave if he knew where her parents were.

Tory jumped back, turning her body partially just as she extended her arm to the door behind Ben and Mary; there was a rattling sound and the door burst open, Mary turning around to watch as Damara and Amanda rushed into the roof, Amanda holding a shield Mary knew belonged to Steve, and after them pieces of white metal rushed towards Tory’s extended hand just like they had done with Tony.

“I’m here to talk you uncultured swine” Loki said as he turned to look at the group that had now grown in size and everyone seemed ready to want to take him down.

“Then why the sword, Horns?” asked Tony.

“You wouldn’t really think I’d come here without protection, would you?” his smirk disappeared and his tone abandoned all traces of mockery “Where is he?”

“What did you do to our parents?” asked Shane, unlike his sister he didn’t have a gun in his hands but Howard was pretty sure that wouldn’t stop him.

“Do I look like I know who your parents are?” asked Loki as he looked at Shane, but Loki knew, of course he did, he had been taught since childhood to keep an eye out for the details and this young man reeked of Clint Barton. “Now where is he?” barked Loki as he turned to Tony “He’s bastard child is here, so I’m assuming so is he”

Damara screamed and launched forward, the small self-control Thor had ever had in his youth, evident in the young woman; Loki had been sure a simple provocation would send the young woman to act before she thought.

“Do not engage!” cried Tony, who throughout the years had learned that sometimes it was better to have a plan and a strategy than jumping into battle with emotions flying around.

But the spark had been lit.

Amanda took a rapid turn and threw the shield as hard as she could, the traces of the super serum she had in her veins sending the shield fast towards Loki; Tatiana started to shoot just as the shield reached Loki, the Norse gad grabbed it with ease and Amanda gasped in horror as she realized their first mistake.

They had been outsmarted by Loki.

The god turned without mercy and threw the shield at Tatiana, who rolled to the side expertly as Loki turned his attention to Damara and with a swift move, threw a kick that hit the young woman on the stomach and sent her stumbling back.

It was then that he felt it, the grip falling around his hand and over the sword, his head snapped back to find a suit just like Iron Man holding on to the sword; he looked up, the person wasn’t wearing a mask and he could see the dark eyes of the blond woman staring back at his clear ones just before he grabbed her arm and his skin turned blue.

Thor threw the door of the roof as hard as he could, the hinges crying out just before they were snapped off the door; he had been securing Pepper, who had been left with Bruce and Fury and the last thing he had expected to find was his brother rising havoc; a brother he hadn’t seen in years.

“Damage to the articulation and main circuits of the right arm” Jarvis spoke to Tory, with what she wanted to believe was alarm in his voice.

She grunted as she tried to pull the sword away, the metal plates of her arms cracked under Loki’s hand, the ice emanating from it was becoming too strong for the suit to hold on; she gasped as she felt the pain of the cold reaching her arm.

“Right arm immobilized” explained Jarvis “Damage to skin inevitable”

She released the sword just as Tony shot at Loki, the god spun around, throwing Tory to the ground with metal plates cracking out of the suit; he was done with this, he would have a word with Thor the good way or the bad way, of course Loki hadn’t been counting that the bad way would be aiming at him.

Loki turned to Tony, his hand up and green lights emanating from him just before Mjolnir smacked him on the chest and sent Loki skidding back and crashing on the floor, Howard, Shane and Tatiana rushing to apprehend Loki as Tony removed his mask and dashed towards his daughter.

“Brother!” roared Thor as he trotted towards his brother.

With a gun and a blaster pointing at his face, Loki glanced at his brother, his sword had slid away from his grip; Thor looked unchanged from the last time they had seen each other, his beard was thicker but his eyes were still the same.

“Thor” hissed Loki.

“What are you doing here?”

Tatiana handed her gun to Shane and turned to grab the sword, Ben and Amanda approaching her; she bent down and grabbed it, she rolled it in her hands and her heart clenched, the metal of the sword was exactly like the one Howard had showed her.

“I came to have a talk with you, instead I was greeted by your child army”

“To talk about what?” asked Shane, he pointed the gun at Loki’s chest, Loki turned to look at him with a bored expression.

“I think you know about what”

“Tory!” gasped Tony, he knelt down next to his daughter as the arm of her suit disintegrated around her. “Are you ok?”

“What’s happening?” she asked as she looked at her father “Why is it doing that?!”

But Tony could care less about the crumbling suit, instead he reached out for her arm and he looked at it, a dark bruise, a frost burn, had appeared over her skin; his eyes darted down to the suit around her and panic set in Tony.

“Jarvis, is it spreading?!” cried Tony. “Is it spreading like with her suit?”

Tory looked at her dad and then down at her arm before Jarvis’ voice resonated in both of their ears.

“No, but severe damage to the skin occurred”

Tory hissed as pain shot over her shoulder, the suit was growing cold and heavy, she twitched and Tony let go of her arm just as he noticed the back plates of her suit starting to blacken and freeze like her arm had.

“Jarvis, take the suit of her now!”


	6. Children and Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tory gets help from Bruce and Thor talks briefly to Loki.

Tony placed a hand between the shoulder blades of his daughter, ushering her into the medical bay; she had her arm up to her chest, a black spot had appeared over her arm, replacing the pale skin where the suit had started to freeze. The medical bay was one of the rooms in the Complex that Tory rarely visited, usually her injuries weren’t that serious.

“Sit down” Tony signaled the litter closer to both of them, Tory looked at her father for a few seconds and then turned to the litter; there was a tone in Tony’s voice that she had never heard before.

Tory sat down, her long legs dangling above the ground as she looked at her father’s back, she gently dropped her hands over her lap; her father was pulling drawers open and was pushing things around before he partially turned to face Tory but looked up at the ceiling instead.

“Jarvis” his voice a bit higher than it usually was “Tell Bruce to get down here”

“Dad, I’m fine”

“He’s on his way, sir” explained the AI, both of them ignoring Tory’s statement.

Tory huffed with annoyance, a strand of hair blowing gently away from her face, she looked down at her hands, her mind wasn’t really concerned about the way her skin had turned black; in face all she could think about was the way the arm of her suit had started to crumble around her.

“ _It was spreading”_ she thought as she frowned “ _Like a disease”_ she looked up at her dad as her heart contracted in her chest, she had worked so incredibly hard on that suit and now part of it was ruined beyond repair.

Her attention was snapped towards the stairs as she heard the rapid fall of footsteps; her father was a technological mastermind but she would never understand why the medical bay, Tony’s lab and their personal workshop didn’t have a direct elevator.

“Tony” gasped Bruce as he hurried into the medical bay, he was wearing a white lab coat he hadn’t been wearing the last time she had seen him. “What happened? Is he locked up?”

“Bruce!” Tony rushed towards his friend, grabbing his arm without answering any of his questions before he turned Bruce and dragged him towards Tory “Look at her arm”

“Tory, what... but his sentence was cut short when he saw the dark mark over the pale skin of Victoria Stark “Frostbite” he whispered, he turned to Tony “How did that happen?”

“He grabbed me” explained Tory, Bruce turned to look at her “He froze the suit and the ice just kept spreading and I got burned”

“Severely” pointed out the man, he pushed his glasses up his nose.

“Can you help her?”

“Tony, I’m not that kind of doctor” explained Bruce as he glanced at his friend “I can help, but she needs Dr. Cho”

“Helen can’t make it here in less than 12 hours” Tony passed a hand through his hair “Please Bruce, she doesn’t heal like Mary”

Bruce looked at Tony, he knew what Tony meant, Mary was rarely injured, the gamma in her body didn’t allow it and the Hulk in her took care of her, and for that he was grateful, for that and the fact that Mary and her Hulk were one and the same, unlike him.

“Ok” nodded Bruce “The nanobots can replace her skin” explained the man “I know Helen comes here often, by any chance to you happen to have some of her tech”

“Yes of course” nodded Tony, he turned rapidly and hurried to the back of the medical bay to get one of the nanobot machines that Helen had sold to him as long as she could always use his labs even if he wasn’t in the Complex.

Bruce glanced at Tory, he liked her, he thought she had her quirks but she had always been nice to him, always buzzing with an energy that he had only seen in Tony; he gave her a soft smile as he heard Tony hurrying back to them.

But just before Tony reached their side, a clicking sound echoed into the room, Tory and Bruce’s heads snapped towards the door as Tony reached them and Pepper Potts stormed into the room.

Her hair was pulled back perfectly into a ponytail, her face was flushed and Bruce suddenly remembering that Natasha had once said that Pepper was one of the few people she knew would be able to run through hell and back in heels without effort.

Pepper stopped at the door and turned her head to Tory, her daughter turned to look at her and Pepper felt her heart contract painfully in her chest as she saw the black mark covering Tory’s arm; she opened her mouth to speak but closed it and turned to look at her husband.

“She’s gonna be fine, Pep”

“What happened?” her voice was steady but her eyes had all the emotions in the world.

Tony looked at the woman he loved, her clear eyes were swarming with questions and he could almost hear the gears in her brain starting to rotate; he handed Bruce the piece of tech from Helen and walked towards Pepper as Bruce and Tory exchanged a glance. Pepper watched as Bruce approached Tory before she turned her attention to Tony, the shorter man took her hands and gave her a soft squeeze as he shot her his best smile.

“What happened?” she whispered again, her heart was beating madly in her chest.

“The suit froze around her arm, she got burned but Bruce is going to fix it”

“Is he still here?”

“Yes” nodded Tony, Pepper pulled her hands away from Tony with a frown over her face “Thor and the others took him down to the cells”

“The others” whispered Pepper, she studied Tony’s face before she glanced back at her daughter, the young woman had her arm wrapped around a metal thing she had seen Helen use as Bruce clicked on some buttons.

Pepper had always known this was what her kids would end up doing, she had known it before either Howard or Victoria had learned how to talk and she had never minded; she knew she couldn’t stop them, she wouldn’t do it either, cutting her children’s dreams wasn’t something Pepper Potts would ever do. Still, she wanted to understand, she really did, she knew why Tony was Iron Man, being the Iron Man had saved Tony, it had given him a purpose, it had given him a direction in life, it had changed him into the best version of Tony that he could ever be; and Pepper would always do all she could to make sure Tony could be Iron Man, all she could to help him thrive and shine and help everyone he could, but that didn’t mean she didn’t fear for Tony, just as much as it didn’t mean she didn’t fear for her kids.

“Pep” Pepper turned to look at Tony “She’s gonna be fine, trust me”

“I trust you” she nodded, her ponytail bouncing behind her.

And Tony smiled, not the fake smiles he flashed the cameras, the smiles he kept for his wife and his children, the smiles he kept for the people he loved; because Tony couldn’t have loved Pepper more than instant she had erased his worries about being a bad father, because Tony couldn’t admire her more, admire who she was and all she did for them.

She reached out and grabbed his hand, giving him a squeeze and a weak smile, he could see she was scared, these were her children, her purest love was to them and Tony, even if he wouldn’t admit it, was scared that Fury wanted Howard and Tory to take his place.

“Ok” Bruce said as he looked at Tory, “Let’s see”

He took away the machine from her arm and both of them looked down at it, the black spot was gone; Tory smiled and looked up at Bruce.

“It worked”

“Still, I think Helen should take a look at that” explained Bruce “I’m not this kind of doctor, Tory”

“Yes, of course” she nodded “But you did a good job anyway”

Bruce smiled and pushed his glasses up his nose “Well, I heard you guys caught Loki”

“Thor sealed the deal” shrugged Tory “Not really sure the rest of us did a good job”

 

___________//____________

 

Fury watched as Thor pushed his brother inside one of the cells in the Complex, in all his time directing the old SHIELD, the new one and the Avengers and of all the things he had seen, Loki was the last person he had ever wished would come back to Earth; and now here they were, with a man who had killed Coulson once, who had tried to take over the Earth, not to mention had tried to kill his brother several times.

“Charming” whispered Fury, he crossed his arms over his chest and walked towards the cell as the door closed down.

“How pleasant to see you again” sarcasm dripped from every word that slipped out of Loki’s lips.

“Brother” spoke Thor, Loki glanced at Thor, he could see the shapes of the children behind Thor; he smirked and took his chance.

“Well,” Loki cocked his head to the left “You couldn’t make her an Asgardian so you enlisted her in your child army”

“Stop” hissed Thor, if there was something he wasn’t going to tolerate was Loki insulting his daughter.

“How tragic” Loki’s smile got bigger.

“I thought that after you were defeated by the Avengers, you wouldn’t dare come back here” pointed out Fury “To what do we owe this tragedy?”

Loki looked at Fury, the man had aged but he still had the same menace Loki had seen the first time he had come across with Fury.

“You can always thank your captain for my return”

“What are you talking about?” asked Thor, he frowned and stepped closer to the glass.

“I think we both know what I’m talking about” Loki rolled his eyes as he started to walk around the cell, examining it as Fury and Thor watched and as the Rogers, Mary and Damara shifted a few feet behind the older men.

“We don’t have time for your games, brother” barked Thor, Loki turned around rapidly, his coat swaying around him.

“Oh” chuckled Loki “You have all the time in the world, Thor” he glanced at the younger people behind Fury and Thor before he concentrated on the man he had grown thinking was his brother “Captain America on the other hand, does not”


	7. Making Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group finds a place to start looking for answers.

Tory pushed the door of the meeting room open, it was one of Toy’s private rooms, used almost exclusively by Pepper for Stark Industries meetings; Jarvis had informed the youngest Stark member that her brother and a few of the newcomers had gathered in the room and where currently talking about what had happened with Loki and the evidence Tony and Rhodey had found.

Howard glanced over his shoulder as Tory walked in, the door closing silently behind her, the young woman’s eyes traveled towards the holographic scree that hovered in front of the gathered group; pictures of the metal found by Rhodes were displayed for everyone to see.

“How are you feeling?” asked Howard, his arms crossed over his chest; Shane turned to look at Tory, the young woman glanced at him before she turned to her brother.

“I’m fine” she shrugged, waving gently her burned arm before her eyes drifted towards the screen. “Helen’s tech” she added.

“Good” nodded Howard, Howard knew how advanced Helen’s tech was, especially since his sister had taken a university course with her.

Tory strolled towards the group, noticing that Damara and Mary were not present, she crossed her arms over her chest and stopped next to her brother, shifting her weight to her right leg as she popped her hip.

“Have you guys found anything?” she asked.

“Apart from the fact that this metal” started Howard, he pointed at the piece of metal that was being kept in the Complex “And this knife” he continued to point at the footage of the fight with Loki “Are the same, no we haven’t”

“I’d say its more of a dagger than a knife” nodded Tory “But I see what you are talking about”

Howard took a deep breath, trying his best not to be irritated by Tory’s unnecessary comments; if there was a moment in time that he had really hoped his sister would behave like a mature person; this was it.

“Anyway” said Shane, “The dagger Loki had isn’t damaged and from what Jarvis has told us, it hasn’t been fixed; its still in its original form”

Tory turned to look at Shane, he looked a lot like Clint, except for the lighter eyes and the way he held himself; something he probably picked up from his mother. Shane stared back at Tory, the young woman narrowed her eyes and then turned to look at the screen in front of them.

“Ok, so maybe we should talk to Thor about that, right?” said Tory “He is from Asgard, just like these things”

“He is being held by Fury, just like Bruce and your dad” explained Ben, “Fury wanted to talk to them, I don’t know about what, he wouldn’t say”

“Of course he wouldn’t” whispered Tatiana.

“Ok, well what about Loki?” asked Tory; Howard turned to look at her, his eyebrow up and his stern big brother look on.

“What about him?” asked Howard.

“He is from Asgard, right?” she shrugged, uncrossing her arms “Why don’t we talk to him?”

“At least we agree on something” said Tatiana as she turned to look at the Stark siblings “I was just saying that before you came in”

“Perfect” smiled Tory “Then we should talk to him, maybe not all of us, but we should”

“Fury has not authorized us for that” snapped Amanda, all the heads turning to her; her face flushed and her curly hair falling around her “We can’t just engage him without preparation, we can’t just walk down there without Fury knowing”

“Why not?” asked Shane and Tory.

“We can’t just decide the rules” explained Amanda “You work for SHIELD” she glanced at Shane “You know we have a chain of command”

Silence fell over the room, as they all looked at Amanda, the truth was that this was the first time any of them found themselves in a situation of such danger; Loki wasn’t just a man from another world, he was a criminal, a universal criminal and on the other hand the lives of three Avengers were on the hands of people that had just met.

“Do you have a better idea?” asked Tory.

“I’m pretty sure you’ve barely ever set foot on SHIELD to know what I’m talking about” snapped Amanda “But chains of command are there for a reason, we can’t just stroll down there and demand questions out of that man” she took a step forward “We have rules at SHIELD”

“Good” said Tory, a dangerous tone tightening around her words “But this isn’t SHIELD, this is the Avengers Complex and just a few hours ago I was told that YOUR father wanted us to assemble, if you want to wait here for Fury to come and get you, that’s fine darling, but I suggest we get something done before another Avenger shows up dying of poisoning”

The blush spread down Amanda’s neck, anger boiling through every vein in her body, burning through her blood as she looked at the girl standing in front of her; Amanda curled her hands into fists, ready to bark back when Tatiana’s smooth yet strong voice broke into the tension.

“I agree with Stark” Amanda’s head snapped towards Tatiana, she had seen the redhead at SHIELD several times, she knew her work and the fact that she was agreeing with Victoria Stark was a shock, especially since Tatiana’s handler was Coulson and that man loved rules.

“You are not serious”

“I am” said Tatiana, her eyes closed up to the rest but she was taking in all the information she could “If we stay here we are not going to get more information, we literally don’t know anything about Asgard, and for the moment the only person who can give us some answers happens to be Loki”

“And I’m assuming you are the one who should talk to him” hissed Amanda.

“Unless someone else wants to offer to do it, yes” she crossed her arms over her chest, she could see that Amanda’s anger was mostly a cover up for the fact that she was terrified of what could happen to Steve, panic that maybe she wouldn’t be able to help her own father, that maybe she wouldn’t live up to what everyone expected Captain America’s daughter to be.

“I’ll go with you” said Howard.

“Not necessary” said Tatiana, turning to look at him.

“Not asking” he shrugged, his dark messy hair flopping around his head before it settled down.

“I am…

“Amy” whispered Ben, curling his hand around his sister’s “Don’t”

“Ben” she growled as she turned to look at him.

“They are right” said Ben “We need to take control or we are not going to achieve anything”

Amanda opened her mouth to protest just as the door of the meeting room was pushed open and Mary and Damara walked in; Damara raised an eyebrow at the group but walked towards them behind Mary.

“How are you feeling?” asked Mary as she looked at Tory “My dad said you were severely burned”

“I’m fine” nodded Tory “Thank you” she gave the young woman with pitch black hair a soft smile before Tatiana spoke.

“We are heading down to talk to Loki” Damara’s head snapped towards Tatiana.

“Why?” hissed Damara, the temper Thor had had when he had been younger was rushing out of the young woman.

“Because he is the only person who can talk to us about the knives at the moment” explained Ben “Your dad is down with Fury and I’m sure that he is pretty shook about seeing Loki, I gathered they haven’t seen each other in years”

“Yes” nodded Damara “About seven, or more”

“Exactly” shrugged Ben.

“Ok” nodded Mary “Sounds like a plan,” she turned to Tory “Maybe you could take us to the lab, we could take a closer look at the metal and the knife”

“Yeah” nodded Tory “I agree”

“Good” nodded Howard, for a moment relieved that the bickering had stopped and that they had a plan to start moving with; a plan that could maybe help them untangle the web of shadows they had been immersed into.


	8. Of Flames and Arms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tory gets bad news, Tatiana and Howard visit the prisoner and Loki feels like throwing the team a bone.

The doors of the elevator opened up and Tory walked out, her hands braiding her hair mindlessly as she lead the group towards the short flight of stairs that would lead them to Tony’s personal and state of the art main lab. Tory placed her palm over the lock pad and the smoked glass door _swushed_ to the left and the group walked into the massive lab.

Mary’s eyes grew with shock as she looked around the place, this was the kind of place that was pulled out of dreams; she had heard by Bruce that Tony’s lab was beyond perfect but she had never imagined how unfitting the word perfect would be when the time came to talk about this lab.

“Holy shit” whispered Mary, Shane glanced at her, her hair fell down her shoulders like a dark wave. “This place is incredible” she whispered as she leaned towards Damara.

The Norse descendant turned to look at Mary, she couldn’t argue with the statement, this place could speed up her astronomy research like no other place would ever be able to do.

“Ok then” nodded Tory “Follow me” she started walking again towards the right side of the lab.

As they followed a few steps behind Tory towards the far right end of the lab, Ben noticed an Iron Man helmet sitting over one of the white tables, the red paint over the surface seemed scrapped off and there were burning marks around the mask plate; the young man snapped his head away from the helmet as soon as Tory’s voice resonated into the room.

“We’ll work here” she turned to look at the newcomers, not really sure how she felt about having so many people inside the lab, but knowing that there was no other place to be other than this one.

“You keep your suits here?” asked Shane, he had noticed the helmet that Ben had seen as well as a boot at another table, a boot that by the colors it had, he was assuming it belonged to Howard.

Tory turned to look at him “Um, no” she answered “They are kept down at the workshop”

“And what is this place?” asked Amanda, the edge in her voice was dangerous.

“A lab” said Tory, her voice matching Amanda’s tone, she frowned “What does it look like to you, Rogers?”

“Ok” Ben stepped towards Tory, the last thing they all needed was to start a fight “Let’s get to work”

“Agreed” nodded Mary, she glanced at Damara and then turned to Tory and Ben.

“Fine” whispered Tory, she turned her back to the group and looked at the massive work space in front of them “Ok, Jarvis!” she exclaimed as she clapped her hands together just in front of her chest “Enlighten us!” she spread her arms rapidly, almost smacking Damara on the face with the back of her hand just as a shower of holographic screens fell around them.

Ben looked at Tory, a genuine smile had appeared over her face as the tower came to live under her command; the sincere smile making her look prettier than she already was.

“I don’t know where you guys want to start but we could narrow down the information” Tory spoke as she moved forward, Shane moving before the rest could. “The analysis on the daggers….

Jarvis cut right into her sentence.

“Victoria”

Tory pinched the bridge of her nose, turning around to face the group and closed her eyes for a few seconds as she answered “Jarvis, you can’t be upset with me forever, I told you…

“There has been a problem” the AI interrupted her again.

“What?” asked Tory, releasing her nose and frowning.

“What happened?” asked Amanda.

“The suit” continued Jarvis, and Ben was sure the AI hesitated before it continued “It has been corrupted”

Tory gasped loudly, all the eyes turning to her, the hand that had been pinching her nose landed on the base of her neck “What happened?!”

“The damage has spread” Jarvis explained.

Damara and Mary glanced at the ceiling before they turned to Tory, the young Stark had lost all the color in her face “No, no, no, no!” cried Tory, forgetting instantly that there were other people in the room with her.

The young woman rushed forward, shoving Shane away from her way and she started to run towards the entrance of the lab; Shane turned around to watch her, just like the rest did, her untied braid dissolving into a curtain of golden hair as she reached the door and raced out the room.

And with that she was gone.

 

___________//____________

 

Tory stormed up the stairs, two steps at a time, Jarvis opened the elevator doors for her just as she reached it and she stumbled inside; the doors closing behind her rapidly and the elevator started to move without Tory having to say a word.

“What happened?” asked Tory “Details, Jarvis!” panic settling in her voice.

“The damage caused to the arm is spreading throughout the suit” explained the AI “It’s corrupting the circuits that allow the suit to perform and so far the reactor on the chest is starting to present troubles”

“Troubles how? Does it turn on?”

“I wouldn’t recommend long flights with it” Jarvis answered. “The damage done is currently of about 70%”

Tory’s eyes widened and the doors of the elevator opened up in the workshop, the white and clear colors that surrounded the lab were gone and replaced with different tones of greys in the workshop. Tory rushed out of the elevator, her long legs leaping over the floor as she made her way towards the space in the workshop that was designated for her own use.

And there it was, with its glory rusting away in front of Tory’s eyes.

The young woman held her breath painfully and walked carefully towards her suit, it stood tall on it holder, the arm that Loki had frozen was gone but a dark spot was spreading over the shoulder and down the chest; corroding the metallic green and silver colors as it spread. In the middle of the chest, the reactor that gave power to the suit was blinking dangerously, with each second it blinked, it remained darker more than it did when it light it.

Tory reached out and touched the chest of the suit, it felt horribly cold, and the black mark had dented the metal it had already spread over; Tory covered her mouth with her left hand and traced her fingers of her right hand over the chest of the suit.

“Can it be fixed?” she whispered as she opened her finger for the words to resonate into the room.

“No” answered Jarvis, “The extensive damage has left the circuits burned and the metal has turned unstable and the arc reactor will be shutting down permanently in a few more hours, maybe minutes”

“It’s spreading like a disease” she whispered, pulling her hand away from the suit “Like poison”

“What would you like me to do with it?” asked Jarvis.

“Is there anything that can be saved?” she sighed, passing a hand through her hair, her heart was beating madly in her chest.

“I am afraid not”

Tory covered her face with both hands and closed her eyes as she tried to think about something to do; this was her suit, the first suit that had been approved for missions by Rhodes, her father and Fury, and now it was dissolving in front of her eyes like it hadn’t taken her months to create such a master piece.

“ _Like a disease”_ the words echoed in her mind, she uncovered her face and frowned, the gears in her mind turning as she approached the suit, “Where’s the other arm, Jarvis? The one he grabbed?”

“I believe it is still up in the roof” answered Jarvis “Where it fell after the suit was dissembled off your body, Tory”

She smiled and looked up at the ceiling at Jarvis name selection for her “Meet me at lab #2, Jarvis, I have an idea”

And with that she turned on her heels and marched rapidly back towards the elevator, her brain working as fast as it could; the way her eyes shined was something Pepper and Tony had always worried about.

 

___________//____________

 

Howard stood a few steps behind Tatiana inside the elevator, the young woman had her eyes trained over the number count as the elevator descended; taking them towards the prisoner. Tatiana glanced at Howard by the rear of her eyes, he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes over his tennis shoes.

“You didn’t have to come”

“I know that” he answered “But I wanted too”

“Stay by the elevator, let me do the talking”

“I was already planning on doing that” he smirked, that signature smirk that Tatiana had seen not only on Tony but on Howard Sr. in the footage she had seen about the Starks when she had been in the Quinjet on her way to the Complex.

Tatiana turned to look get a better look at Howard, the young man looked up at her, his clear eyes were bright and big, that was the only difference from his father and grandfather, the light eyes he had made his looks softer, kinder yet she could tell he had trained himself into reading the people around him.

Too bad, she had been trained by the best to do the exact same thing.

The elevator beeped and the doors opened up to the pair, Tatiana turned around and the greyish huge room was something she hadn’t been expecting; with everything so light and clear in the rest of the complex, she wasn’t sure what she had expected the cell room to look like.

“Well, well, well” the voice slithered into the air like a dagger into flesh, the mockery in it was very palpable “Look what the cat dragged in”

Tatiana stepped out of the elevator, and Howard followed behind her, he had been down at the cell block hundreds of times; it had been his and Tory’s favorite stop to hide at when they were playing hide and seek.

Howard stopped moving like Tatiana had asked him too and the young woman made her way towards the glass and Hulk proofed cell; her fiery hair flowing behind her as she moved silently and gracefully.

Tatiana stopped in front of Loki’s cell, the god was laying across something that resembled a bed, his legs crossed at the ankles and his hands behind his head, his eyes were closed but she was sure he was incredibly aware of everything that was happening around him; he was after all the God of Mischief and Lies.

“Loki” she spoke, her voice a bit softer than the other times Howard had heard her and he smirked as he watched her theater begin.

Loki opened his eyes and gracefully and without effort sat down, swinging his long legs over the edge of the bed, he leaned forward, placing his arms over his knees and looked at her; his eyes intense but closed up to her like no one Tatiana had ever met.

“Another child soldier” he spoke, his accent thick.

“My name is Tatiana Barton”

“Ah” smirked Loki, even if he already knew who she was “The daughter of Black Widow” he wasn’t good at lying and manipulating by not knowing the people around him and that included knowing Thor’s friends.

“I came to talk to you” she continued “When we meet at the roof, you said you wanted to talk, to Thor I suppose but I am all you are getting”

Loki pushed himself up to his feet, his helmet and his cape where gone, but the rest of his armor remained on, he strolled towards the young woman at the other side of the cell, his hands behind his back.

“Is that so?”

“You wanted to talk, I’m here to listen to what you want to say”

“And what exactly am I getting out of this?” asked Loki, one of his arm appeared from behind him as he signaled the cell “I came to talk to Thor and yet here I am, locked like a wild animal”

“I think we both know why you are locked here” said Tatiana. “You tried to take over before, why would this be different?”

“Why wouldn’t it?” he asked back.

“Not everyone gets a change of heart”

“But your mother did, didn’t she?” he cocked his head to the left “How many people did she kill before she decided she didn’t want to do it anymore?” he glanced at Howard and then back at Tatiana “Saving lives don’t erase all the ones she already took”

“I agree” nodded the red head “But this isn’t about my mother, this is about you and Thor and the information you might have about how to help Captain America”

“This isn’t about Thor” he leaned towards the glass “Not anymore at least,” his eyes danced towards Howard “This is about all of you” lazily he strolled away from Tatiana and towards the left of the cell. “I came to warn Thor about what is about to happen, about the hell that is about be rained over all of you and you dare cage me here?” the anger in his voice was palpable.

“This is the only way you can be trusted” pointed out Tatiana, she shrugged and shifted her weight from one leg to the other; Loki looked at her, she was so much like her mother that he had a flashback about the time the Black Widow had interrogated him in the Helicarrier years ago.

“My information has a price” explained Loki “A price it didn’t have before” he motioned his arm around the room “Let me out, and I shall tell you all you want to hear”

“You know that is not happening” she shrugged “Trusting you is the same as a death wish”

“Well, not much will change in Captain America’s state then, right? Seeing he is already dying” Loki’s eyes shined, he walked closer to the glass, Howard narrowed his eyes as he looked at Loki; maybe talking to him hadn’t been the best idea.

“You came here to mock us” she sighed “How petty is that?” she cocked her head to the left “How evident it is in your ways, that you would never be king of anything, barely the god of mischief and lies when you only seem to play the petty and pity card”

Howard raised his eyebrow as he watched Tatiana getting closer to the glass, her body posture had changed completely, it was sharp and alert and ready for action; Loki looked at her, his eyes bright and the smirk over his face had not shaken, but still something behind his eyes had moved and Tatiana had seen it.

“He will rain hell over all of you” explained Loki, he took a step back from the glass “He will destroy everything you have ever loved” Tatiana scanned his face “And he will enjoy it because that who he is” Loki shrugged. “He is…

“A psychopath” Tatiana added.

“A disappointment” Loki corrected.

“You know this person” she frowned “You know who he is and what he wants”

“Of course I do” Loki smirked, but there was anger veiled behind it.

“Why?” she asked “Why do you know so much?”

“It’s what I do” he explained “I watch,” with a flick of his right wrist, a flame of green magic appeared between his fingers “He’s name is Vali” the flames of magic shifted in his fingers, Tatiana watched the green shades shape out a face as Loki looked down at the flames with little interest, he snapped his fingers and the flames disappeared “And he is my son”


	9. Direction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group questions Thor.

Howard and Tatiana walked into the lab, agitated voices could be heard at the back, the red head glanced at Howard before starting to walk straight towards the sound; the conversation with Loki had left her troubled and with thousands of questions that could only be answered by Thor, who had agreed to meet the youngsters in a half an hour down at the lab where they were all currently at.

Mary was sitting behind one of the desks with Damara next to her, she had a set of delicate tools over the table and was looking down a special magnifying glass; Damara next to her was reading down something from one of the tablets that were usually found around the Complex.

At the other end of the room Amanda was staring at the last records that had been sent by Steve, Clint and Natasha before they had gone missing; Howard could see a few parts had been highlighted and had been enhanced and where being carefully separated by Ben from the rest of the digital documents that Jarvis was displaying on the holograms.

And finally Shane had a set of constellations projected in front of him as he sat by himself at one of the desks, one of the holographic screens was projecting a real time conversation that was happening via text with Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis.

“Hey” said Tatiana.

“Hey” answered Mary as she looked up from what she was doing, glancing over her shoulder to look at Tatiana and Howard.

“Where’s my sister?” he asked, a small frown over his face.

“She left” answered Ben without looking away from the pieces of information he was separating into small groups.

“What do you mean she left?” hissed Howard.

“Jarvis told her that her suit had been compromised so she left to check it out” explained Shane, he closed a constellation map and turned to look at her sister and Howard.

“She ran out” added Damara “She never came back”

“When was that?”

“Like 40 minutes ago” shrugged Damara, she sighed and looked down at the tablet over her lap. “How did it go with Loki?” she asked, Tatiana noticed the way her hands tensed around the edges of the tablet.

“Well” sighed Tatiana as she walked towards the table where her brother was “We got a name, that’s for sure, we just need Thor to come down here so we can check the information with him”

“What name?” asked Damara, forgetting the tablet almost instantly as she looked up from it and towards Tatiana.

“Vali” answered Howard. “But like Tatiana said, we need Thor to verify what he said”

“Yeah, I’m gonna go get him” Damara nodded, she stood up in a soft jump from the high chair; Mary glancing at her by the rear of her eyes for a brief second before she turned her attention to what she was doing.

Damara walked past Howard and Tatiana as Mary scooped the tablet up and looked down at it, her fingers typing rapidly over it as she accessed the database of the Avengers Complex.

“You guys” she spoke, she set down the tablet and turned to the piece of metal she had been inspecting, “Um, I don’t think this is Asgardian”

“What are you talking about?” said Tatiana, she walked over to Mary, the rest of the group following suit.

“I was looking at a few symbols while Jarvis compared the structure of the piece of metal the Mr. Stark found with the database on Thor’s armor” explained Mary “Since he’s still processing the information on the knife that Loki had” she picked up the piece of metal and turned to the group “The information is nothing alike” she continued “Whatever this thing it, it’s not Asgardian, that I can tell you”

“But Loki’s knife could be, right?” said Ben, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Yeah” nodded Mary “But it looks way too similar to this piece” she handed the piece to Ben “So, I’m willing to bet that it’s no Asgardian either”

“Ok” nodded Shane, he glanced at the group “But Loki isn’t Asgardian by birth right?”

“Yeah” nodded Tatiana as she looked at her brother.

“Maybe its from Loki’s home planet” he shrugged.

“Shit” whispered Howard, this was all feeling like they were not getting anywhere and there was so little time to lose and so much to lose if they didn’t find a way to help Steve Rogers, not to mention the fact that if what Loki was saying was true, then they would have to start worrying about Vali as well.

Tatiana glanced at Howard, her eyes cold as steel but there was still a pang in her chest that was telling her that maybe they were not the most prepared group to handle this situation; she understood perfectly that their parents were getting older, but even with her SHIELD training, it felt like there was a lot she didn’t know, and this certainly was not the moment to start learning new skills.

Ben crossed his arms over his chest before his eyes captured movement by the rear of his eyes and he glanced to his side just as Damara and Thor walked into the lab; the God of Thunder had left his cape behind as well as Mjolnir.

“Thor” said Ben, the group turned to look at the father and daughter walking up to them.

“Ben” nodded Thor, the man looked capable of taking down just about anyone who he wanted, but still there was a gentleness about him that not a lot of people had.

“Have you found anything?” asked Thor.

“Yes” answered Amanda, she turned to Mary.

“But we also have a few questions” added Tatiana “About something that your brother told us when we talked to him”

“You talked to Loki?” asked Thor.

“We did” nodded Howard, “We couldn’t just wait for Fury to give us permission”

“Agreed” said Thor “How can I be of help?”

“Your brother said he didn’t do this” explained Tatiana, Damara rolled her eyes annoyed and Amanda tensed her jaw as she crossed her arms over her chest, Thor nodded but said nothing as he waited for the youngsters to continue. “He said he had just intended to talk?”

“Ugh, and you believed him?” asked Damara, Tatiana shot him a glare.

“No” said the red head “I’m just telling you what he said, it’s hard to believe anything he says after all the things he has done”

Thor looked around the room, he knew his brother had done terrible things, he had attempted to kill their father, he had attacked New York a lot of years ago, but Thor also couldn’t forget that Loki had helped him against Malekith, helped him save Jane.

“He said that there was someone else behind all of this” Tatiana continued “A man named Vali”

Thor’s head snapped towards the young woman “What did you just say?”

“Vali” Howard repeated, a frown forming over his face “You know him?”

“Loki’s son” answered Thor “That’s the name of Loki’s son” Damara looked at her father with a confused expression, she had never heard about Loki having kids.

“Ok” nodded Howard “So that part is true, he does have a son named Vali, but that doesn’t mean Vali is behind this, just like he claims”

“He said Vali as behind this?” asked Thor, he frowned and looked at the metals they had over the table next to Mary.

“Yes” answered Tatiana.

“I haven’t seen Vali in years” explained Thor, he turned to look at Tatiana. “The last time I saw him was during his mother’s funeral” he cleared his throat “Just about the same time I saw Loki for the last time”

“You think they could be working together?” asked Amanda.

“They were never close” Thor went on “But I do know that Loki tried teaching him some of his skills when he was younger”

“That’s not an answer” said Shane, Thor glanced at him, the young man reminded Thor of Clint, silent but ready to point out what others often missed.

“Loki’s knowledge and skills make him a great ally” Thor sighed “And as much as he is my brother, I cannot say that they are not working together” Mary pressed her lips into a thin line, she could see the pain in his eyes “Loki has gone down dark paths before, the chance that it has happened again exists”

“So we can assume that they are indeed working together” said Amanda.

“Yes” nodded Thor, the Norse man loved his brother but that didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of the destructive path that Loki more often than not, went down.

“Ok” said Mary, she cleared her throat and turned to the desk “Maybe you could have a look at these” the group stepped away so Thor could step forward and look at the evidence that Mary had been going over.

Thor looked down at it as Mary started to talk once more, the faster they got the answers they wanted, the better, that way they could start looking for a way to resolve this.

“The craftsmanship in these are virtually the same” explained Mary, she stepped closer to Thor and pointed down at the details over the surface. “We went through a lot of symbols from Asgard, but none matched these symbols entirely” the young woman glanced at Shane before turning to Thor.

“We think they might not be Asgardian weapons” Shane jumped in “Maybe from Loki’s home world?”

“Jotunheim” said Thor as he looked away from the items Mary wanted him to see. “The Frost Giant world” he narrowed his eyes “It looks like they could be”

Mary lit up, her eyes shining at her discovery, a small smile curving over her lips as she nodded; Shane glanced at her by the rear of his eyes and smirked before turning his attention to Thor.

“The symbols seem a bit rustic” he explained “Not like the ones I have seen in the books my mother showed me” he tensed his jaw for a few seconds “They could indeed be from Jotunheim, but a few ancient symbols match around the different realms”

“Well” sighed Amanda “We can still look into that, but Vali seems like the best lead so far”

“Apparently” nodded Thor.

“We follow that lead then” she turned to Damara “Get your mother on conference call, she can help identify the symbols” Damara nodded, glancing at her father by the rear of her eyes “I need to go check on my mother as well as my father” her voice got caught in her throat for a second “But we might need to talk to Loki again” she pushed her hair behind her shoulders “And let’s look for footage about the last place the quinjet was before it dropped out of the radar with our parents” she turned to Howard “Let’s get your sister to do that”

“Sure” nodded Howard, he glanced at Tatiana, but his mind was on Tory, if what Jarvis had said about the suit crumbling was true, he knew what was coming for his sister’s mental stability; after all she had inherited Tony’s obsessive behaviors. “I’ll go look for her”

And a sense of relief washed over the room, because yes, Steve Rogers was still poisoned, Loki was still caged below the complex and Clint and Natasha were still missing, but at least now they had a better sense of direction.


	10. Coffee and Poison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria gets coffee and takes a detour and Amanda picks a fight.

Howard didn’t even have to ask Jarvis about his sister’s whereabouts, he simply knew where to find her; he always kind of did, even after they had grown out of their hide and seek ages. His mind had been worried about her the second he had heard that the suit had been compromised, his sister had impulse control problems and that usually also lead her to not knowing when to stop.

That’s how she had ended up on almost a 50 hour none stop streak in the lab when she had been building her first suit; all of this fueled by really strong coffee.

Tony and Tory had never heard the end of the rant that they got from Pepper.

He stepped out of the elevator as he tried to trick his mind into thinking that this could be different, maybe having people around the Complex could help Tory; maybe she could learn from them, grow a bit more.

Howard walked straight to the door, the lab was the place they always used when the main lab was busy, and knowing Tory like he did, he was pretty sure she had forgotten that there were others in the Complex at the time.

A song by _Years & Years_ was playing rather loudly when he walked into the lab, his sister was hunched over a table, her head bobbing up and down to the rhythm of the music as she threw away a piece of metal, that by the color, told Howard it was part of her suit.

Howard waved his hand gently, and the music level dropped significantly, his sister, who had her back to him, looked up and turned to Jarvis the droid, who was sitting over the table next to her.

“Your brother is here” answered Jarvis before Tory could even begin to formulate the question; Howard knew it would sound strange to others, but he had always sensed that Jarvis was a bit more perceptive and protective of Tory than he was of any other member of the Stark family.

Tory glanced over her shoulder, protection googles over her face, her right hand reached out and she pulled the googles away from her face, setting the googles over the desk before she pulled her gloves off and turned around on the chair to look at Howard.

“Howie boy” she smiled as she looked at him.

“Working on the suit?” he asked.

Tory shrugged, “Something like that”

“Right” whispered Howard, he looked around the lab, “Where’s the rest of the Maiden?” he asked turning back to her.

“At the workshop, dying a slow death” she answered, her tone was casual but Howard knew better.

“Sorry to hear that”

“It’s fine”

He knew it wasn’t.

“We had some breakthrough” Howard said, he came to a stop in front of his sister and shifted his weight from one leg to the other “We are gathering everyone to optimize work” Tory looked at him, her eyes narrowing for a moment.

“Can I work from here?”

“No” Howard answered as soon as she finished her question, she raised an eyebrow “You know why, we need you there”

“Fine” she sighed, pushing herself up from the chair, she turned over her shoulder “Come on J, they need us”

Jarvis the drone levitated up effortlessly and Tory turned to look at Howard, he was already looking at her.

“What breakthrough?” she asked as the three of them started to move.

“Loki says that Vali is the one behind this” explained Howard “We are looking at a few symbols that Mary identified and we’ll go from there”

“Mary Banner” whispered Tory, Howard raised an eyebrow and glanced at her. “How strong do you think her Hulk is?”

“What?” asked Howard, “Her SHIELD file probably has that kind of information”

“Yeah well, no” shrugged Tory “You see, I played a few of her Hulking sessions, she pulls back on her punches, like she doesn’t really go all the way”

“Well, you could always just ask her” shrugged Howard as they walked out of the lab.

“Huh” Tory whispered “I never really thought we’d get to have our own She Hulk in the team”

Howard stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her “Victoria, do not, and I repeat, do not, call her that to her face. EVER. In fact, don’t call her that in any context ever again” she looked at him “Am I being clear?”

“Ay, Jesus Christ fine, I won’t” she rolled her eyes in a way that only Tony could understand how much sarcasm and sassiness it contained “I didn’t say it as an insult, she should be proud, she has her own super hero name already”

“Just stop” sighed Howard, he didn’t have time for Tory’s lacking social skills “Just stop”

 

___________//____________

 

Victoria groaned as she rolled her shoulders, after finding and coding the footage of the last place the quinjet had been, scanning for the frequencies it emitted to see if it had appeared anywhere else, the young Stark had been assigned another tech job by Amanda.

And now, four hours later, she felt sore and her eyes felt tired and heavy, she stretched her arms and looked around the lab; her brother had left with Tatiana and Ben to meet with the elder Avengers, Damara had recently just hung up with her mother and was now going through thousands of astronomy data with Jarvis’ help, Mary was whispering something with Amanda and they were signally things over one of the holograms.

Tory pushed her chair back and Shane turned to look at her, she stood up and pushed her hair behind her shoulders.

“You ok?” asked Shane, she glanced at him.

“Yeah, just tired” she explained with a shrug “Mostly because I feel like this is going nowhere”

“I know” whispered Shane, he looked at the computer he was using “I feel the same”

She looked at him for a moment, the way his messy blond hair flopped over his forehead, it hadn’t been like that when she had walked back into the lab with Howard, his eyes stared at her, she cocked her head to the left, he was a perfect mix between Natasha and Clint; sharp and intense yet he looked serene and smooth on like his sister.

The perfect mix of everything that was beautiful about the Black Widow and Hawkeye.

“You drink coffee?” asked Tory.

“Of course” he snorted, she raised an eyebrow at him amusedly.

“How you take it?”

“You gonna get me coffee, Stark?” he smirked.

“Yeah” she nodded.

“Black, one sugar” he answered, she nodded with a short smile.

“Perfect, I’ll be back in a few”

“Thank you”

“Don’t worry about it, Barton” she smiled, her drone levitated gently but she turned to it “Wait for me  here, J, I won’t take long, but get the coffee machine running” and with that she turned on her heels and started walking away from the desk, her feet fast and quiet, the last thing she wanted was Amanda barking at her again; all the girl seemed able to do when she was around Tory, was that and to be honest she was draining the last bits of patience Tory had.

Shane watched as Tory walked away, Jarvis the drone sitting over her desk, he glanced at it; the AI that worked all the Complex also had a body and he wasn’t sure how that made him feel, he knew SHIELD headquarters had cameras just about everywhere, but this was different; Jarvis almost felt like another person.

The young woman entered the kitchen, the lights tuning off behind her in the hallway and turning on in the kitchen, she could hear the soft murmur of the coffee machine; her mind instantly going to her mother and all the times she had insisted they change the machine, Tony and Howard always being against it.

“ _I need to check on mom”_ she reminded herself, even if she knew both Howard and Tony had been checking on her and Maria Hill at every chance they could.

“How is Steve doing?” she asked as she walked towards the machine.

“He’s stable” answered Jarvis “For now”

“Has Bruce gotten any breakthrough? Or Fitz – Simmons? Or anyone at SHIELD?”

“No” answered Jarvis, “His state remains the same, the poison is no longer spreading but its still very present in his body”

“Shit” she whispered, her arms reaching to grab the mugs that always seemed to be sitting near the machine, ready to be taken and used.

She poured the coffee in two of the mugs and then turned to get the sugar, she’d discovered early on that the sugar rush she got from the first three coffees always seemed to keep her going better than when she decided to take her coffee without sugar at all.

She dumped three of sugar in her coffee and then one in Shane’s, mixing them swiftly before she took the mugs and started to walk out of the kitchen, the silence of the Complex had always been something she had loved about her home, but tonight, the silence hung like a heavy reminder that they had still figured out nothing about the upcoming threat.

“What are your thought about the suit?” asked Jarvis as Tory made her way down the hall towards the elevator, he turned on the lights of her upcoming path as he turned off the ones behind her.

“I don’t know yet, J” she sighed, trying her best to hold it together about her suit. “I still have the prototype, but that’s what it is” she shrugged. “We both know my dad won’t let me go out on that one, not to mention that his suits are a lot heavier and Howard’s are just insane on the shit they do”

“Agreed” said Jarvis, Tory smiled as she reached the elevator, the doors opening up for her, she stepped inside and turned to the button panel and stared at it.

“ _The poison is no longer spreading”_ Jarvis had said, she frowned, her eyes darting to her covered arm and with the slow rise of her eyebrow she looked at the button panel.

“Jarvis” she said “Take me down to our new guest”

“You mean Loki?” asked Jarvis, and there was a bit on hesitation in the AI.

“Yes” she answered.

“Your father wouldn’t like that” he pointed out.

“Good thing that you aren’t telling him” she smiled up at the ceiling just before the elevator had started to move.

The elevator moved without much noise, without much feeling that it was moving but before Tory could even think about the coffees getting cold, the elevator stopped and the doors opened up for her with a soft beep.

The basement of the Complex had been built with the specific intent on keeping threats, but since only one of the cells was in current use, the rest of the basement remained in shadows; Tory pouted for a second before she set down the mugs, gently placing them over the floor and then she walked out of the elevator.

“I thought visiting hours were over”

The voice was smooth and mellow, thick and dark, Tory said nothing but continued to walk towards the light of the cell.

Loki was laying over his back on the small bed at the far end of the cell, his legs crossed at the ankles and his arms behind his head, his eyes closed but his ears alert to anything that happened outside his cell.

When he heard the footsteps stop and still there was silence, Loki opened his eyes and turned to look at the visitor; the young woman stood at the other side of the glass, her long blond hair draped over her shoulder, she was wearing an old sweater that was too big for her, covering her hands as they hung next to her and her eyes set over him.

He uncrossed his legs and swung them over the edge of the bed and sat down, his back straight and his arms resting over his knees, he looked at her as he waited for something to be said.

No words came from her.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asked, with mockery, he narrowed his eyes as he looked at her and pushed himself up to his feet.

As he stood up Tory realized how tall the man actually was, during the adrenaline rush of the battle, she hadn’t noticed how tall he was, his hair jet black and his clear eyes seemed to darken as he looked at her.

“Are you a mute or just plain dumb?” he asked, he took a few steps towards the glass, her dark eyes fixed over his clear ones.

Tory looked at him, he wasn’t as big as Thor was, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t equally intimidating, the way he held his shoulders, the way his eyes were fixed on Tory; she just knew he was much more than he let on, like an ocean full of secrets.

He narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the left just before her eyes jumped away from his face and down to his hand; his hand looked normal, but she remembered the way it had looked a few hours ago, the way it had changed unlike the rest of his body, the way it had turned blue and had poisoned her suit, the way it had started the death of the Maiden.

Loki’s eyes followed her eyes down to his hand, he wiggled his fingers and looked up at her from under his lashes, the way she slowly looked up at him again, his eyebrow shooting up.

“Well,” his voice echoed through the place “It’s not very entertaining to talk by myself” he pointed out. “Gives out a crazy vibe”

She smirked at his comment. “But it helps you keep up what people already think about you” she finally spoke.

“Ah” he said with venom “She knows how to speak”

She cocked her head to the left and without another word, she spun around on her heels and walked away, her steps soft but Loki could still hear them as she walked away, her blond hair bouncing behind her; Loki kept his eyes over her as she walked into the elevator, he watched as she turned around and before the door closed, he got a glimpse of her stare and then she was gone.

Like everyone else.

“Don’t tell Howard I was down here either” said Tory as she picked up the mugs and the elevator started to move again “Don’t tell anyone”

“Is there a specific reason you went down there?” asked Jarvis.

“I don’t know yet J, but I’ll let you know”

“Please do” he answered back, Victoria smiling warmly as the elevator came to a stop, she couldn’t imagine a life where she didn’t tell Jarvis the things she did; she had been doing it since she could remember, she had told him about her first crush, she had cried to his soothing voice and music selection shortly after the accident had happened, she loved Jarvis, and she was pretty sure only her father and Howard knew what that meant.

She walked into the lab, she could hear voices so she was pretty sure the others had registered she was gone.

“Where were you?” asked Amanda as Tory came into view, the young woman had pulled her hair up in a bun.

“Getting coffee” answered Tory, she walked back to her computer.

“See,” shrugged Shane “I told you she’d come back”

Damara looked at her as Tory extended one of the mugs towards Shane, he took it and smiled at her shortly, she nodded and walked towards her seat.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” asked Tory as she looked at Amanda. “It’s gonna be a long night, I don’t have super serum partially running through my veins like you, so I needed coffee” she raised her mug to her lips and raised an eyebrow at Amanda.

Silence ruled over the room, Tory and Amanda looking at each other, Amanda’s jaw tense, Mary glanced at Shane, he looked at her and Amanda’s words snapped him to the Rogers girl.

“I don’t like you”

“I know” Tory answered with a shrug “I can tell, you’re actually really obvious about it, you know?”

“I’ve read your file, Stark” Amanda continued, her eyes narrowed, this wasn’t the kind of person she wanted helping figure out what was happening to her father and to find the two missing agents.

“Is that so?” asked Tory, she narrowed her eyes to match Amanda’s.

“Maybe this isn’t the right time to do this” said Mary, Damara nodded in agreement.

“You’re reckless” Amanda continued as if she hadn’t heard Mary, “You were best in your class at MIT, two degrees and an escalating career in Stark Industries” Mary turned to Shane with pleading eyes. “But as smart as you are, I can see why you are not going to make it to CEO of SI, even to the big table” Tory’s eyebrow slowly went up “You seem unable to work with others” she continued “A few SHIELD agents quit working at the Complex just after giving you a few boxing and training sessions, that tells me you don’t care about others, it doesn’t matter what others tell you”

“You say a few and it gives people the wrong idea” Tory said “It was just three”

“You have a pile of transit infractions that SHIELD has to take care of, and I really just feel a need to remind you that there is something greater going on here and I will not take your nonsense” she hissed, Shane noticing instantly how Tory’s grip around the mug tightened when the transit was mentioned.

“Oh, I’m sorry” Tory snapped back “I wasn’t aware SHIELD was in a position to complain about paper work from my transit when MY dad finances just about every fucking thing they do down there”

“Stark” whispered Shane.

“You’ve read my file, Rogers?” she slammed her mug down, drops of coffee jumping out of the edges, “Well, newsflash darling, I’ve read yours” Amanda tightened her jaw “You have trouble keeping your team, don’t you? You’re too bossy, too rigid, too unwilling to hear the opinions others have” Amanda’s chest was rising and falling. “This isn’t SHIELD Amanda, this is the Complex, welcome to MY house, where you don’t get to treat me like a worthless piece of shit just because you don’t like me” she leaned over the table. “And about transit?” she smirked “Wasn’t your brother the one who crashed a SHIELD car he took without permission and while he was going above the limit?” Amanda shook with anger “Yeah” Tory nodded “Steve talked about that with Tony, guess what, your dad liked me, unbelievable right?”

“ _Don’t do it”_ Amanda thought as she pressed her lips into a thin line, she had to be the bigger person here, she had to bite her tongue and not mention the accident she had read on Tory’s file. “ _Don’t mention it, don’t say anything about it”_ she curled her hands into fists and her nails dug half-moons in her palms as she looked at her. “Just get the job done” she finally said, once she had swallowed the words she had intended to speak, her parents had taught her not to hurt feelings deliberately and if what she had read was true, she would have wrecked everything.

“Of course I will” said Tory “This is Steve, Nat and Clint we are talking about” and with that, she turned to her computer and zoned out from Amanda and the rest.

Amanda and Mary turned away and headed back to their post, Damara looked at Shane and then glanced at Tory, turning to Shane, the young man shrugged and Damara turned to go back to head to her bathroom break.

Shane started to type something on the computer when he heard soft music coming from Tory’s computer, he turned to look at her just as he noticed her lips quiver and her eyes dart to Jarvis the drone.

“I thought you’d like to hear the new song from _Marina and The Diamonds”_ Jarvis explained as he turned to look at Tory; the young woman chuckled softly as she looked at Jarvis, and Shane had the horrible realization that her chuckle was hiding a sob that had built up in her chest.


	11. Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Howard is noticing things are up, Tatiana spots an expert liar in the group and Tory's mind is already playing another game.

Tony and Bruce had locked themselves up at the south wing, the part of the Complex that Howard had forgotten to mention was where High Security meetings were dealt with, but most importantly, it was the place where Steve Rogers was being kept while SHIELD and the Avengers figured out a way to help him; with them was now Helen Cho.

Thor had vanished, with the promise of bringing back books that could help figure out the origin of the daggers and Rhodey was currently being debriefed by Fury on a especial assignment that he knew no other member would be willing to take, because it involved Maria Hill and Pepper Potts and apparently only Rhodey was patient enough to do it.

With the elder Avengers away doing different things, the younger ones had remained around the lab, after the outburst between Amanda and Tory just a few hours ago, things had settled down; at least that was what Shane was hoping for. Ben, Tatiana and Howard had returned forty five minutes after the fight and when Shane noticed that no one was saying anything about it, he decided that maybe it would be best if they just kept the fight between the ones who had seen it.

Howard was leaning over one of the tables, Ben was showing him the tactical plans that the mission had assigned Steve, Natasha and Clint, and since Howard was no SHIELD agent, he was grateful that Ben had taken the time to explain to him what everything was about; he was smart, but that didn’t mean he didn’t need help.

The thing was Howard was unable to concentrate.

He glanced over his shoulder to his sister, the young woman was sitting next to Shane, her eyebrows knitted together and her lips pursed as she looked at something over the computer, her right hand reaching up to the base of her neck and she started to scratch it mindlessly.

“ _Shit”_ whispered Howard in his mind as he turned to Ben.

“Since they didn’t report any complications on the main route, we are assuming that everything was fine on their way to the site” Ben continued, he looked up at Howard as Howard glanced over his shoulder once more; this was the fifth time he had caught him looking back at the others.

“Is everything alright?” Howard’s head snapped down to Ben.

“What?”

“Is everything alright?” asked Ben, he raised an eyebrow at Howard.

“Yeah” nodded Howard, “Of course”

“Really?” Ben questioned, “Because you have been glancing back at your sister for the last ten minutes” Ben turned to look over his shoulder towards Tory, the young woman was now braiding her hair, her eyes over the screen, and Ben realized this was the sixth hairdo Tory gave herself. “Is something wrong with her?”

“No” answered Howard, Ben turned to look at him “I don’t know”

But of course he knew, that was his sister, he knew her better than anyone, he had seen her smile and dance, he had seen her scream and cry, he had seen her shattered in a million pieces and he had seen her anxious before.

Ben glanced back at Tory, the young woman was so different from what he had read on file, and apparently Howard hadn’t been the only one to notice something was up with Tory because Shane was glancing at her by the rear of his eyes frequently too.

“I think we should eat something” said Howard “Take a break”

“We can’t stop” said Ben, he looked at Howard.

“We have to take a break, at least four of us do” he pointed out “We don’t have super serum in our veins or gamma radiation like you and your sister and Mary, not to mention our father is not a God like Damara’s”

Ben looked at Howard, the thought of food suddenly making his stomach turn, he was hungry and he was sure none of them had had much to eat since they had arrived; obviously not counting the various trips for coffee that Tory had made.

“You’re right” nodded Ben, he wanted to find out a way to fix his father, but he also knew that fatigue and hunger would only make the team weak and aggressive and it was already enough that they didn’t really know each other, because he was very aware about the conflicting feelings between Amanda and Tory.

“Yeah” nodded Howard, he pushed himself away from the table and tuned to look at the rest of the group, Damara was stretching her arms and Mary was rubbing her eyes, Howard knew they all needed a break before someone collapsed over the computer.

“Hey guys” said Ben, his voice had a tone of command that didn’t demand, like Amanda’s sometimes did, everyone turned to look at him. “I think we should head to the kitchen, get something to eat”

Tatiana looked around the group, noticing the signs of hunger and fatigue written all over the faces of the new Avengers.

“I agree” said Howard “We can’t really work on our best potential if we are hungry”

“Sounds good” said Shane, he pushed his chair back and stood up, Mary and Damara following suit.

In a silence that had at least shifted from awkward to bearable, the group made its way down the elevator towards the kitchen, the visitors still amazed at how futuristic the Complex was; somehow it seemed incredibly wrong that SHIELD didn’t allow anyone to train at the Complex unless they were being trained to belong to the Avengers or they had permission from the high chairs of SHIELD; not even Tony could understand such stupidity, when it was no doubt that his building was light years better than SHIELD.

The kitchen was huge, clean and impressive, a coffee pot was already brewing up when they entered, Tatiana wondered if this was the place where the family of four usually sat down to eat; or if they even eat together at all.

“Do you guys eat here all the time?” Damara asked, her hands inside the pockets of her hoodie, at least someone else was thinking the same thing as Tatiana.

“Yes, of course” nodded Howard, Tatiana looked at him “Its family tradition” he added.

Tony had promised himself that he would never be like his father, that he would dedicate time to his family and it had been something that had come so naturally when he had married Pepper and even more when Howard had been born, and the cherry on it all had arrived when Pepper had announced that she was expecting another child.

“What can we get?” asked Mary, she looked around the room.

“What?” said Howard as he turned to look at her.

“What can we get to eat, I mean” she explained, a soft blush over her face.

“Jarvis what do we have in the kitchen?” asked Howard.

“Chinese, Thai, Italian, Mongolian, Cuban, Peruvian, Colombian” Jarvis started to recite “Cereal, sandwiches, pizza”

“Ok” nodded Howard, cutting through Jarvis’ list, he turned to Mary “Anything you want, Mary, feel free to take anything”

“Are you serious?” asked Mary, a soft frown over her face.

“Of course” nodded Howard, “Don’t worry, it’s here for us to eat”

“Thanks” smiled Mary, Howard smiled back at her.

It felt different, it felt right actually, to have other people around the Complex, he knew the place had been built to house others, but since no one ever had he had never realized how much he was losing out of it; having these people here felt the way the Avengers Complex had to.

After getting what they wanted to eat, the group allowed Jarvis to heat it all up as they went to sit at the small living room area, just a few feet away; Damara sighed with delight as she dropped herself over the sofa, the hard chair had left her butt sore.

“This place is really cool” said the Norse girl.

“I know” nodded Mary, “The lab is amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it”

“I don’t understand why SHIELD is so uptight with sending trainees here” shrugged Tatiana.

“Because this doesn’t work with SHIELD” pointed out Amanda.

“And yet SHIELD is the one to lose” Ben said, Amanda looked at him “This place is amazing, I get why dad would rather come here than train at SHIELD”

“You are welcome to come when you want” said Howard, Ben gave him a smile and Howard nodded at him, his eyes scanning the people around the living room, he looked down at his hands as he noticed his sister wasn’t there.

He knew why.

He looked over his shoulder, she was by the coffee pot, a tablet in her hands as she typed something quickly, Jarvis the drone hovering around her like he always was; and Howard wondered if Jarvis was so protective of his sister because he felt she was lonely.

Howard was about to call out to her, ask her to join them, when Jarvis spoke out to the rest of the group.

“Dinner is ready”

They all hurried to their feet, the smell of food had made them realize how hungry they actually where, and how late they had been working with it being already seven o’clock; everyone gathered the plates they had served themselves and with Amanda on the lead, they walked towards the table.

Howard, on the other hand lingered behind as he waited for his sister to serve herself a bit of his raviolis.

“Are you ok?” he asked, she looked up at him.

“Yeah, why?” she asked back.

“You don’t look like it” he said instead of saying “ _You look anxious”_

“I’m fine” she explained “Just a bit bummed about what happened to the Maiden, you know?”

He knew and he feared it was more than just bummed.

“How long have you been awake?” he asked suddenly, knowing his sister had a habit of not sleeping through the whole night.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, a frown over her face “I woke up when you went to look for me to get breakfast” she explained.

“Jarvis” Howard called, the drone turned to look at him “How long has she been awake?”

“30 hours sir” answered Jarvis, Tory snapped her head towards him and glared at him.

“Traitor”

“Liar” said Howard at his sister, she turned to look at him. “You know you shouldn’t be doing that”

“I’m fine, Howie” she shrugged “You know I’ve stayed up longer”

“Yes, I know” he said, “Don’t do it, Tory” he glanced back at the table, Tatiana was looking at them, but turned to look away as soon as their eyes met.

“I’m fine”

“Tory” he looked at her “I need you on your best capacities” she looked at him “I know you are smart even when sleep deprived, but you are even smarter when you sleep properly, please this is important for dad, for us, please”

She looked at him and pulled her lips into a smile “Ok” she nodded “You’re right, I’ll go to bed when you guys wrap it up at the lab, I promise”

With a short nod, Howard and Tory headed to join the others, the tension of the group had slowly disappeared and slowly the conversation was flowing around the table as they eat; even if it was work related talk.

Shane watched as Tory looked around the table, her attention snapping from person to person as they talked, her lips twitching into a smile and her head nodding as they talked, she was eating rapidly just like the rest of the group was but there was something about her that was just not there; like somehow she wasn’t entirely with them at the table.

He turned to glance at his sister, the young woman was sitting next to Mary and Ben and as soon as she felt her brother looking at her, she turned to look at Shane; they had learned since their early years, to communicate with each other just through glances, just like Tory had learned how to read others before they could read her, Tatiana and Shane had learned the art of eye talk.

He glanced at Tory and then at Tatiana, his sister slowly turned to look at the young blond, she was looking at Damara as she talked about something to do with her star project, her eyes over her.

And just as Tatiana narrowed her eyes oh so gently, Tory turned to look at her.

“So, Tory” said Tatiana once Damara was done “How’s the suit? Shane mentioned you had to go check on it”

“It’s fine” answered Tory “It can’t be used again, but that’s fine, there’s another one I’m working on”

“That’s a prototype” pointed out Howard “Its not flight approved yet”

“It will” she turned to her brother “Don’t worry about that”

“You have a way to get it ready so soon?” asked Tatiana.

Tory looked at her “Yeah, it’s almost ready anyway” she shrugged “I’m not out of the team because I don’t have a suit, right?”

“Of course not” said Tatiana.

“Awesome” she smiled and looked at Tatiana and her eyes had closed off to Tatiana so fast that Tatiana knew rapidly what that meant.

“ _A life of telling lies gives you that”_ because there was only one person she couldn’t read until that moment, and that had been her mother, who had lived a life of lies for too long, and now here was Tory and from what she had read on Tory’s file, being a liar only made her much more dangerous.

And as she smiled at the group, all Tory could do was think over and over again about two things that had been said that day, one by Jarvis and one by her. “ _The poison is no longer spreading”_ and “ _It was spreading, like a disease”_

And all of those things only made her think about one possible answer.

Loki.


	12. Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Howard monitors sleep, Tatiana has questions, Shane looks up some files.

It had fallen upon them heavily, the night and the exhaustion had forced Ben to call it a night at around eleven, he had seen the tired eyes and the tense muscles and he understood, everyone was working and thinking and pushing limits and yet they had seemed unable to get anywhere; Thor was still gone, Nat and Clint where still missing and his father was still dying.

Tatiana looked at the ceiling in the dark room, she had changed into a pair of sweatpants that belonged to her father and even if her body felt heavy, and her mind felt strained, sleep was not coming. She had closed her eyes for a few minutes, allowing her body to relax on the amazing bed, but then her mind had started to work and she had opened her eyes and she had been staring at the ceiling for the last ten minutes.

With a grunt, the young woman pushed herself to a sitting position, her wavy red auburn hair flopped behind her, a thick strand falling over her chest as she sighed and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, she leaned over her knees and dropped her head forward; she knew the life of an agent was draining, but this was something she had never been prepared to experience.

She wondered if Shane was thinking anything like it, if he was sitting over his bed thinking about their parents and Steve and all the things that had gone wrong and now they were trying to fix with a group of people they didn’t know and yet they had all worked to their limit to help.

The Complex was something she would have never been able to imagine, the silence in the rooms was something anyone would dream of, the temperature was perfect and the beds where everything she had ever wished for and somehow, as she sat in the darkness, she realized that she’d rather be there than at home or at SHIELD.

“Fuck” she hissed into the night as she pushed herself up to her feet, if sleep wasn’t coming to her, than at least she could go look around; know the place she would be staying in until they found her parents.

Dead or alive.

In the darkness, she made her way down the hallway, she stopped in front of her brother’s door and listened for a moment, she strained her ears but she couldn’t get anything from the other side of the door.

 _“Maybe I could ask Jarvis about it later”_ she told herself before she started to walk again towards the small living room that separated their rooms with the ones belonging to the Starks.

Tatiana hugged herself, not because it was cold, but out of habit as she walked out into the living room and stopped in her tracks as silently as she could; stealth was still something she wasn’t ready to give up around these new group.

Someone was sitting over the sofa, their backs to her and the light from a tablet illuminating enough to allow Tatiana to figure out it was Howard; she stood behind him a few feet as she tried to figure out if she should go back to her room or just tell the young man about her presence.

She wasn’t used to this.

Instead, her training kicked in and she walked slowly towards the young man, her feet as silent as anything could ever dream to her and her arms still hugging her as she got closer to Howard.

“Couldn’t sleep?” she spoke softly when she was close enough to him.

Howard jolted softly and looked over his shoulder, clearly not used to being scared in his own house, he looked up at her, her wild hair falling over her shoulders and her eyes intense as she looked down at him.

“Not really” he answered, he turned back to the tablet “You?”

“Too much on my mind” she explained, she walked around the sofa, the darkness embracing her like a second skin. “What about you?”

“I was just checking on something” he answered, Tatiana glanced at him and walked towards the young man, she stood next to his legs and he looked up at her. “Sit down”

She hesitated for a moment but then looked towards the windows, the night looked like it belonged somewhere else, the sky was painted with stars and Tatiana wondered if that was the hook of the Complex; to have everything better than any other place so people would like to stay here.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her eyes still over the window and her mind not really sure why she was asking something she didn’t really care about.

“Um” he whispered and Tatiana turned to look at him, it was the first time she had heard the young man hesitate, she frowned “Making sure my sister doesn’t lie to me” he finally answered, he typed something over the tablet and looked up at her.

“Is she good at that?” she asked, turning her body to face Howard.

“At what?”

“Lying” asked Tatiana, her thoughts during dinner returning as she looked at him.

Howard held her gaze as he shrugged “Yes” he answered.

“And what exactly are you worried about?” asked Tatiana, she sat over the sofa, her left leg under her as she looked down at the tablet before looking up at Howard “Something we should know about?”

“She’s on edge” he explained, he pressed something on the screen “That’s why she’s been getting in fights with Amanda” he turned to Tatiana “I want to make sure she gets sleep”

“You are monitoring your sister’s sleeping habit?”

“My mom started doing it with dad and then we started doing it with Tory”

“Why?”

“I know SHIELD trains you in different skills, including light sleep and all that shit” he shrugged “But my dad mastered the art of not sleeping” he continued “He can go long periods of time without sleeping and so can Tory, fueled only by coffee” he sighed “My mom has helped my dad with it, but Tory… he hesitated again and Tatiana’s curiosity was poked. “ _Don’t say it”_ Howard thought “ _Don’t talk about the accident”_ he looked at her, she was looking at him with her eyes big and expecting but Howard couldn’t just betray his sister like that “Tory has trouble with sleep”

“Why?”

“Anxiety” he answered, and Tatiana could tell he wasn’t lying but he was hiding something.

“I see” she nodded and looked away for a moment “What about you? Do you master the art of not sleeping?”

“No” he shook his head “I can’t do that” he shut down the tablet “I don’t like the strange lightheaded feeling you get after several hours of being sleep deprived”

“Some people” Tatiana said, she adjusted herself over the sofa “Some people hallucinate after several hours of not sleeping”

“I know” he nodded “ _I’ve seen it”_ he decided not to add.

The pair sat in silence, as they looked out the window in front of them, the silence falling over the gently, the awkwardness that came when they were all together was not present when it was just Howard and Tatiana.

“The Complex” she spoke after a few minutes of silence. “It’s beautiful”

“Thank you” answered Howard, she turned to look at him, his eyes straight forward as she scanned his face, his dark hair made his eyes lighter and she wondered if he knew how much he looked like Pepper too.

“You want to go get some tea?” he asked, turning to look at her just as she looked away, Howard not missing the way she turned from him. “You don’t strike me as the coffee type of girl that much”

“Tea sounds good” she nodded and pushed herself up, Natasha always shared tea with her at night when they couldn’t sleep or when they were just having a moment at the kitchen.

And while Tatiana and Howard made their way towards the elevator to head to the kitchen, Shane sat over his bed, the covers around his legs and a StarkPad over his lap, his fingers drumming over the screen gently before he decided to ask for help.

“Hey, Jarvis, are you there?”

“Always Mr. Barton” said Jarvis.

“Shane, call me Shane please”

“Of course” there was a pause “What can I do for you?”

Shane looked at the tablet, he had been unable to find the information on his own, and he was pretty sure that Jarvis had access to the SHIELD files; and even if Jarvis didn’t have access, Shane was certain he could get it.

“Can I get the SHIELD file on Damara and Mary please?”

“Would you like the on the tablet or displayed?”

“Displayed” answered Shane.

And before he could even adjust himself on the bed, the holographic screens returned and invade his view as the files appeared in the air; he didn’t really need Amanda’s or Ben’s, he had seen them around at SHIELD; he had never really talked to them, but right now he wanted to get all he could on the other members he didn’t know.

“The files on the Stark’s too”

Two other holograms popped up.

“Jarvis” he set the tablet down “On Victoria’s file” the file moved closer to him “Can you show me her transit information?”

“Anything in particular?” asked Jarvis.

“Not for now”

And the information popped up in front of him, the only problem was that Jarvis knew what Shane wanted to see, so he hid it away in his data base, making it hard to find, because if Jarvis had one thing clear in is artificial intelligence was one thing amongst the rest.

Protect the Starks at all costs.


	13. Questions and Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben walks in on something that means more than he realizes for now, a trio make breakfast, Jarvis delivers news and Loki gets a visit

Ben walked down the stairs, the day was just beginning to chase away the night, the sky was a light blue with shades of purple and the moist on the windows told him that outside the day and the wind were probably chilly; inside the Complex however, the temperature was just perfect.

The young man pushed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and walked out into the hallway, he had been walking around aimlessly through the Complex, his brain had woken him up a few hours ago, he could see his father dropping on the floor, he remembered the things they had been told about his state and he wondered how long Steve would be able to survive this.

He sighed and took a turn, he hadn’t really noticed that he had no idea where he was, he had left the sleeping quarters a long time ago and he had just kept walking and now as he walked past a few glass doors, he heard soft music; he recognized the artist as he followed the sound.

A light filtered out into the hallway, he looked down at it, wondering why he hadn’t asked Jarvis if someone else was awake, then again he had never expected to run into someone in a place as big as the Complex. Ben stopped and looked down at the light on the floor, he looked at it for a moment as he heard _Vancouver Sleep Clinic_ sing softly in the background.

He looked up and slowly stepped into the room, a room he soon discovered was actually a lab; the young man walked inside, the music still soft and melancholic. His bare feet and his training in SHIELD gave him an advantage as he walked through the tables and finally his eyes landed over a figure.

The young man came to a stop, a costume made support was holding up an Iron Man suit, but the colors were all wrong, the suit had the helmet on the support and part of the chest piece was hanging on to dear life by threads of wires and smoked metal; he glanced down, one of the boots was in place over the support but the rest of the suit had crumbled down at the feet of the support.

And then he noticed her.

Tory was sitting with her back to him Indian Style, her blond hair draped behind her, a tablet next to her and Jarvis the drone nowhere to be seen; he glanced up at the suit and wondered how the thing had managed to look so deteriorated, like it had been through hell and back several times in the last decade.

And suddenly Ben had the oppressing sensation that he had just walked into a private moment, and to make matters worse, he had no idea how to just walk out.

He didn’t even know her, he couldn’t really just ask her if everything was alright, could he? He wasn’t supposed to be there if it hadn’t been for Loki injuring his father, he would have never been looking at a messed up suit if it hadn’t been for his aimless walking and now he didn’t know if he should just turn around and leave.

A heavy sigh left her lungs and Ben cringed as he watched her turn around to look at her tablet, her hair falling like a curtain around her face as she changed the song and then he decided that he should just say something.

“Good morning” he said.

Tory jolted and her head snapped up to the sound of his voice, her hand frozen in place over the tablet, her eyes big and shining and Ben cursed inside, he could see it all over her face, she was sad.

“Good morning” she answered softly.

Ben looked around the room and walked closer to her, there was no way he could escape from this now.

“I thought no one else was up” he explained with a shrug as he looked at her.

“Why are you up?” she asked,

“I woke up like two hours ago”

“Two hours ago was at three” she pointed out “What happened?”

“I was thinking about my dad” he shrugged, not really sure why he had answered that question.

“Oh” she whispered, she turned to the tablet and turned off the music.

“ _Vancouver Sleep Clinic,_ huh?” he strolled closer.

“I wasn’t feeling like something stronger” she shrugged, she followed him with her sight as he walked towards her

He stopped next to her, she looked up at him and found him looking at the suit in front of them, she tore her eyes away from him and looked at the suit, her heart clenching in her chest for a moment.

“What happened?” he asked softly.

“I don’t know” she answered, he looked down at her, she cocked her head to the left, Ben could see the webbed shadows of her eyelashes over her cheeks before he sat down next to her; her head snapped towards him and Ben remembered when he had heard from someone at SHIELD that Tory wasn’t really good with social skills.

“Is it yours?” he asked.

“Yeah” she answered, a lump in her throat “The only one that has been flight approved by Rhodey”

“You don’t have another suit?” he asked, he glanced at her.

“A prototype” she answered “So, no”

“Huh” he turned back to the suit, the way it looked burned and the metal twisted and bent, he wasn’t sure how that had happened so fast since he had seen the suit just the day before.

“She’s called the Maiden” she whispered, her voice strained, Ben looked down at his lap before he turned to look at her, “My dad likes _Iron Maiden_ a lot” she shrugged as she looked at the suit “I thought it’d be nice to call it like that” she frowned softly. “This is the first one I built on my own”

“It’s impressive” he whispered, knowing that raising his voice wouldn’t be appropriate.

“Yeah” she smiled bitterly “She’s amazing” Ben smirked, but she shook her head “She was amazing, I mean”

“You can’t fix it?” he asked.

She looked down at the feet of the suit, her lips gaped “No” she answered softly, the words feeling like acid as they slipped out of her lips.

“I’m sorry” he whispered, because yeah, his dad was hurt and frozen, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t see the pain in others, Tory sounded proud of her work and now here she was watching as it lay on the floor lifeless. “Did you come to try and fix it?”

“No” she shook her head, she clenched her hand in a fist “Jarvis told me the arc reactor was about to give in”

“When was that?”

“Like an hour ago” she shrugged “I came down when he woke me up,” she turned to look at him partially.

“To say goodbye” he nodded as he looked at her, noticing that her eyes weren’t as dark as he had thought, a few streaks of honey shining as she looked at him _“To watch it die”_

“Yes” she nodded, she looked down at her lap for a moment. “Anyway,” she looked up at him “Are you up for breakfast or did you have something to eat on your way down here?”

“I’m actually starving” Ben smiled at her, it was soft and maybe a bit condescending but his voice was honest.

“Great” she nodded and pushed herself up “Because I think we have pancake mix and bacon and a lot of other shit we could use to make breakfast” he chuckled as he pushed himself up.

 

___________//____________

 

Not long after Tory had decided that she didn’t want to answer more personal questions, and had instead told Ben they should make breakfast, Damara had walked into the kitchen, her hair pulled up in a bun; without any question, she had greeted the pair and had simply fallen into the plan of breakfast making.

And now, as the rest of the team walked into the kitchen, the unlikely trio had managed to get almost all of the breakfast done; Damara had set up a few small bowls with fruit she had expertly cut into squares, Ben had set up the tea kettle and the coffee pot and was turning the pancakes as Tory continued to stir the mix as she nodded at Damara’s and Ben’s conversation.

“So, you think your dad will be back today?” asked Ben, his back to Damara as the young woman set the kitchen island.

“Yeah” she answered “He said he’d be back toady or tonight” she glanced over her shoulder to look at Ben, his back was to her but Tory was looking at her “He will do anything he can to help Steve, ok?”

“I know” answered Ben, Tory looked at him before she turned to look down at the mix she was stirring.

“We are all doing what we can” shrugged Damara, she pushed herself away from the kitchen island and walked up to Ben and Tory. “That smells really good”

“I told you at the beginning of this, that I was a really good cook” he smirked as he turned to glance at Damara.

“Yeah, but we had to see it before we believed it, am I right, Stark?” Damara looked up at Tory.

“She’s right” smiled Tory, “We can’t just take your word for it”

“How long have you guys been awake?”

The voice cut right through the conversation, startling everyone, Damara jolted and her hand shot out and she grabbed Ben’s arm, Ben turned around and Tory yelped as she spun the spoon in the mix and part of it splattered off and over her chest.

“Shit” she gasped as she looked down at her shirt.

“Sorry” said Shane, he looked at the group “Didn’t mean to scare you”

“It’s fine” said Ben, Damara looked down at her hand and pulled it away from Ben.

Tory looked up at Shane, he gave Ben a short nod before he turned to look at her but Tory’s eyes were already over her brother, who had just walked into the kitchen followed by Mary, Tatiana and Amanda.

“It smells really nice” smiled Mary “What are you guys making?”

“Pancakes” the three of them answered at the same time, Howard smirked and Tory rolled her eyes at her brother.

“You guys make the bacon and the eggs” said Tory, she set the spoon down “I’m gonna got get another shirt”

“Sorry about that” said Shane.

“Don’t sweat it Barton” shrugged Tory, she looked at Ben and gave him a short smile “I’ll be back in about ten minutes”

“Sure” shrugged Damara “We’ll be here”

Tory nodded at her and turned to the rest of the group, Tatiana and Mary had sat down at the kitchen island and Amanda was just reaching out to grab a seat; Tory smiled at her brother and patted his shoulder as she walked past him, the energy around her had shifted and Howard was really hoping it was for the better.

Howard glanced over his shoulder as his sister walked out of the room, following her with his sight for a few seconds before she took a curve and disappeared down the hallway; he knew that shortly she would be joined by Jarvis the drone.

___________//____________

 

After Tory changed into an old sweater, and had made her way out of her room and towards the elevator to head back to the kitchen, Jarvis the drone decided to announce a discovery he had made under Tory’s request.

“Victoria” he spoke, Tory groaned and tuned to look at him.

“Jarvis” she said.

“The results of the analysis made to the piece of metal from the Maiden’s arm have arrived” he explained, levitating gently next to her as she walked into the elevator.

“What showed up?” she asked, she leaned against the wall of the elevator and looked at Jarvis, folding her hands over her chest.

“The burns to the metal were extensive” explained Jarvis, Tory nodded because she already knew that “The temperature needed to twist and burn the metal at the rate had to be incredibly elevated”

“Go on” she said as she adjusted herself against the wall.

“The analysis showed that the metal was burned so fast and so quick because it was not only the metal the one that started to freeze”

Tory’s eyebrows shot up in clear surprise “What is that supposed to mean?”

“The air around the metal, in the spaces between the wires and the plates, the molecules in the air froze up as well” explained Jarvis “That accelerated the burn, that and the fact that the source of the ice, in this case Mr. Laufeyson, acted like a core of pure ice”

“Well would you look at that” she whispered.

“I am also proud to announce that this is not the only news I come to deliver”

“Oh” smiled Tory, even if her brain was already working madly “Jarvis, you know how to make a girl smile” she glanced to the elevator door “Let’s hear it”

“I have extracted the ice from the metal and it is waiting for you to be examined”

“I’ll do just that when the others head to bed”

“I remember your brother telling you that you had to get some sleep”

“Which means you also remember that I called you a traitor, so you wont be ratting me on Howard for this” she turned away from Jarvis “Change of plans, take me down to check on our visitor”

“I don’t think that is a wise idea”

“I wont be long Jarvis” she rolled her eyes “And anyway, what’s the worst that could happen?”

It would take the team three days to find out what was the worst that could come from that second visit.

It wasn’t long before the doors opened up for Tory and she stepped out of the elevator, her raised hand indicated Jarvis that he should stay in the elevator.

“Another unwanted visit” his voice slithered around the room easily.

Tory said nothing and walked towards his cell, she knew the others were waiting for her, so she had to make this as quick as she could; there was just something pulling at her core, pulling at her to go talk to Loki.

He was sitting over his bed when she reached the cell, his eyes over her, intense and bright as she finally came to a stop; he cocked his head to the left.

“The mute returns” he pointed out, Tory looked at him, the glass separating them was thick but she wondered a few things as she walked towards it.

He looked at her, her hair rolling over her shoulder, its bright color was a contrast to her hazel eyes, he pushed himself up and walked up to the glass.

“Are you back to interrogate me?” he barked.

“No” she spoke, her voice soft but firm.

He raised an eyebrow “Then to what do I owe this second visit?”

“Has it ever happened to you, that you find out something so incredible that you just have to see if for yourself?” she asked, her eyes over him.

“What kind of pathetic trick is this?” he asked, he frowned as he looked at the young woman.

“It happened to me just a few minutes ago” she continued, almost as if she hadn’t heard him at all. “You can freeze the air around yourself”

He raised an eyebrow as they looked at each other. “It amazes me” he spat “How you mortals believe you have the answer to everything” he leaned closer to the glass “Don’t let your eyes fool you, child”

“Victoria Stark” she answered quickly “My name is Victoria Stark and I never let my eyes fool me” she narrowed her eyes as he looked at her.

“The chaos coming towards you” he hissed “Is nothing your eyes will ever be able to explain” he took a step back “You and your friends and the oaf I thought was my brother, you are all wrong, you think you know so much”

“If you think you have all the answers” she asked “Why haven’t you said anything?”

“I came here in peace, I was attacked by you and all the bunch of incompetents that Thor and his friends managed to breed into this world” he barked “I will not be treated like a mundane and expected to cooperate, I will tell you all I know, if you let me out”

“With your record, letting you out of here would only make things worse”

“Your friend it dying, my brother is still an illiterate idiot, your friends have no idea what they are looking for, you say letting me out would make things worse, but for whom?”  

She looked at him, his eyes pierced down at her and she took a step forward “Did you hurt him?”

He leaned forward as well “What do you think, Victoria Stark?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys think will make things worse in a few days? And what do you think Tory will say back to Loki?
> 
> are you team #ToryWhatAreYouDoing , #LokiIsPlanningSomething or #BenShouldHaveAskedMore
> 
> Let me knowww
> 
> Btw this is the song Tory was listening to, I'll pop up again because its kind of important so listen to it if you can :3
> 
> https://youtu.be/32OXAVhMI1Y


	14. Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damara makes a friend, Thor brings news, Tory has something on her mind.

Damara rubbed her eyes, it was already two in the afternoon and although they had figured out a few details concerning the last place the Widow and Hawkeye had been seen, Damara felt like they were running out of time; almost like they were running around like a bunch of headless chickens.

“Are you ok?” asked a soft voice.

Damara uncovered her face and looked up, Mary was standing just in front of the desk Damara was working at, her dark eyes over the Norse girl and her pitch black hair pulled back in a pair of complicated braids that draped over her shoulders.

“Yeah” she sighed “I just think that my dad should be here already” she shrugged and Mary leaned against the table, crossing her arms over her chest. “He’s gonna bring those ancient books, and I’m pretty sure they will be of much more help than the internet”

“You’re probably right” Mary said, she looked down at the table, noticing a worn out notebook with a leather cover and a star engraved on it. “That’s really pretty” Mary added.

Damara looked down at the notebook and a soft smile appeared over her face.

“My dad gave it to me”

“Can I see it?”

“Of course” Damara pushed the book towards Mary, the young Banner girl uncrossed her arms and picked up the book.

She opened it gently and her eyes widened with amazement as she looked down at the drawings, she flipped the pages and her eyebrows rose; rich colors filled the pages with planets and stars and the desert, everything coming to life as Mary continued to flip through the old notebook.

“You made these?” she looked up at Damara.

“Yeah, I like to draw sometimes”

“These are amazing” Mary looked down at the pages, the drawings suddenly coming to an end and being replaced by hundreds of math equations. “That’s an abrupt stop”

“I like number too”

Mary chuckled and closed the book, handing it back to Damara “I like numbers too” she shrugged “But physical activities are more of my thing”

Damara wasn’t a fan of SHIELD, but she would be lying if she said she hadn’t watched a few videos about her teammates that SHIELD had on its archive; so as Mary pushed herself away from the table, a question bubbled up in Damara’s throat.

“Hey, Mary”

“Hm?” Mary hummed as she looked at Damara.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course” Mary nodded.

“I really hope you don’t think I’m intruding or anything”

“Is this about my dad?”

“Um, not entirely, but its about…

“The Hulk?”

“Yeah” Damara answered, she wasn’t used to having people around her that were as expressional as she knew she was, and now here was Mary Banner, probably the only person in the room that could take her down in a fight.

“Ask away” Mary said, a sincere smile over her face.

“I saw videos of you and the rest last night” she started, her eyes drifting down to the notebook in front of her “Um, I couldn’t help but notice that your change is a lot smoother than your dad’s” she looked at Mary “Ben was, actually the one who brought it up when he was asking about the physical reports they have about me on SHIELD” she frowned “How do you manage that when your dad cant?” she shifted in her seat “Shane mentioned that your granddad isn’t a fan of your dad”

“Not a lot of people are”

“Tony Stark is, my dad is a fan too” Damara shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest, “Ross is just an asshole”

Mary chuckled and shook her head “Well, you see, the gamma in my genes isn’t as strong as the gamma in my dad’s, that gives me control over the shift” she leaned against the table again “It takes time and it takes learning how to read the signs, but it helps that my shift isn’t triggered by anything, just my own will”

“Huh” whispered Damara, that wasn’t the answer she had been expecting but then again she wasn’t sure what she had been expecting. “Sounds exhausting”

“It is” Mary answered “But that’s just the way it works” silence settled between them as Mary wondered if now she got a chance to ask something. “Is this the first time you’ve ever seen Loki?”

Damara looked at her, a bit taken aback, but still she shrugged “Yeah, I’ve heard of him obviously, my mom and Darcy and Erick, god they’ve told me a hundred times about all he did and dad, his told me things, but it’s different” she uncrossed her arms, “It’s painful for him, to talk about Loki”

“What does he think about all of this?” Mary looked over her shoulder as Ben and Shane walked into the lab, Shane glancing at her as they walked towards Amanda and Tatiana; Mary watched him for a moment, the way his hair flopped over his forehead as he walked.

“About what?”

Mary snapped her head back to Damara “About Loki being here, about what he said concerning his son, does he think Loki is behind this?”

“I think he doesn’t want to believe it” Damara sighed “No matter how horrible Loki is, I know my dad loves him, I just don’t understand why”

Mary looked at her, she couldn’t really relate to anything that had just been said, Loki had done terrible things and yet Thor loved him; Mary, like Damara, was a single child, so she wasn’t really sure how sibling love worked.

“I guess he must have his reasons” Mary finally whispered.

“I guess so” shrugged Damara, “It’s just weird”

 

___________//____________

 

Tory glanced at Mary and Damara, the young Banner girl had stood up from her work place a few minutes ago; the young Stark watched as they nodded at each other for a few seconds before she turned back to her hologram, her eyes scanning the information but her brain wasn’t a hundred percent into the task.

Part of her had wondered off.

“ _What do you think, Victoria Stark?”_

She looked down at the keyboard and started to type again, filtering the information they had received from the headquarters of SHIELD that were all around Middle East; she narrowed her eyes, from a very young age, Tory had learned to focus her mind in different tasks and right now, her brain was on three different things.

She passed a hand through her hair, her fingers combing back small knots, a few hairs snapping as she passed her hand through it once more; she sighed and just as she looked up at the hologram, a blinding light erupted through the windows, shaking the glass, the energy reverberating through the building.

Tory flinched, just like she had done the first time the light had come, but this time the glass didn’t break, she closed her eyes and her left arm rose up to protect her face as she heard chairs being pushed back, she heard someone say something about Thor and Tory was almost sure it had been Damara.

A heavy hand landed over her shoulder and Tory jolted forward, turning around to face Ben, he looked at her, the last vibration leaving the glass with a small shake; his eyes were a dark shade of blue and Tory was almost certain he hadn’t gotten them from his father.

“Its Thor” he said, she turned to the window, Damara and Mary had already left the room with Shane and Howard.

“Right” she nodded as she turned back to Ben “He was bringing the books, right?”

“Yeah” nodded Ben, slowly pulling his hand away from Tory’s shoulder, Tory glanced to her left, her brother was still in the room as well as Amanda. “You coming?”

“Yes” Tory answered without looking at Ben, her mind had forgotten about the information on the computer, but not everything had left her mind.

_“What do you think, Victoria Stark?”_

 

___________//____________

 

Tony and Bruce were the only pair not present at the conference room with Thor and the rest; the scientists had managed to get a few particles of the poison out of Steve and were now running endless tests on it, trying their best to get all the information they could from the poison, that way they could try to get an antidote and help Steve.

Tory looked down at the books and parchments that Thor had dropped over the table, they were old but they looked beautiful, their leather covers with golden and silver titles and decorations were incredibly made and something in Tory urged to reach forward and touch the books; she had always loved the way a book felt in her hands.

“I bring news” said Thor, his voice was hoarse but it had that tone in it that told everyone who heard him that Thor was strong, yet gentle.

“Good or bad?” asked Tory, she looked up from the books to Thor, he was holding one of the books in his hands.

“Revealing” he answered instead.

Thor looked down at the book, he opened it carefully, flipping through the pages until he came to a stop, he looked up at the group; he leaned forward and set the book over the table, turning it so the figure could face the rest of them.

“What it is?” asked Mary, she leaned forward and looked at the page, it showed a picture of a set of daggers.

“Those, I believe, are the daggers that Tony found and the one Loki brought here” explained Thor, he pointed down at the book. “These are relic daggers”

“Meaning what?” asked Howard as he looked from the book up to Thor.

“My wife” he explained “She remembered that when we were younger, my mother had given Loki a set of these”

“A set of these?” asked Ben.

“No” Thor sighed “He had given these same daggers to Loki”

“Why would your mother give your brother a set of relic daggers?” asked Amanda.

“My father always believed that I was an amazing warrior, that my skills had no match in any arena” he frowned softly, remembering the last time he had seen his father. “But my mother,” he looked at Amanda “My mother trained Loki in the best arts of sorcery, he had the best teachers, and he became… exceptional”

Howard and Tatiana exchanged worried looks.

“The daggers were a gift, a gift when he became the best at his skill” explained Thor “How they work is not explained in the book, but I do know that they are used for more than physical harm, the rest of the power they behold, rests in Loki”

Silence fell around the room, the group shared glances, Ben turned to look at the books, Tory was narrowing her eyes as she watched Ben, her mind singing to her.

_“What do you think, Victoria Stark?”_

 “And these? What do these have?” asked Shane finally.

“Information about sorcery weapons” Thor answered “I thought we could use them to look for answers about what is afflicting Steve”

“Sounds good” nodded Amanda.

“So, you think he did it?” asked Tory, she leaned forward over the table, putting her arms over it, her eyes set over Thor even if she felt the eyes of the rest over her.

Thor looked at Tory, her eyes were as intense as the ones he remembered on Tony the first time they had met; and he could understand why his friend was so worried that his daughter was sometimes so intense and obsessive.

“I believe it’s an option” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“ _What do you think, Victoria Stark?”_

“What do you think?” asked Thor, Tory shook her head for a brief second, pushing away Loki’s words.

Tory glanced at her brother rapidly, her heart racing, Howard raised an eyebrow at her and she turned back to look at Thor.

“I think maybe we should have several theories about what’s going on”

“You think he’s innocent?” asked Amanda, and Howard could tell by the tone in her voice that she was ready to fight Tory.

“I didn’t say that” Tory turned to Amanda “I just think that it’s weird”

“What?” snapped Amanda, she leaned towards the table.

“He’s down there and he’s accusing his son of doing this, then I think maybe we should really explore the Vali possibility because why else would he say Vali is behind this?”

“Because he’s a liar” said Tatiana, “This is not the first time he has come here to take control, to kill, to hurt people”

“You’re right” said Tory “But that doesn’t make him the culprit this time” she turned to Thor “At least not entirely”

“He could be working with Vali, like a team” said Mary.

“Exactly” nodded Tory “I mean, we can say he’s doing it alone, he’s doing it with Vali, or he’s not doing it at all” she shrugged as she looked at Thor “But we need to have several options”

“Then we investigate all of them” said Amanda “But the fact that he had these daggers under his possession all this time, it looks suspicious doesn’t it?”

“I’d say convenient, but sure, why not” said Tory.

Amanda looked at Tory, the way her eyes narrowed over her, the way it seemed like she didn’t really believe in the things she was saying, the way she felt inadequate as she looked back at Amanda.

Amanda tore her eyes away from Tory and turned to Thor “Thanks for the books, Thor, we’ll look into them but I need to ask you to do something for us”

“Of course” nodded Thor “Everything to help”

“Could you talk to him?”

Damara’s head snapped to Amanda, she knew how painful it was for Thor to talk to Loki, when everything Loki did seemed only centered into hurting Thor; Amanda could feel Damara looking at her but still she continued talking.

“I think he might cooperate if you talk to him” she shrugged “You’re his brother, we are just some random group he just attacked”

“I’ll see what I can get from him” nodded Thor, he pointed at one of the parchments. “In there, it’s all the information I could get concerning Vali”

“Thank you” said Tatiana “This will be really helpful”

Thor nodded and looked around the group, Fury had been gone since the night before and so far no one had gotten news about where he had gone or when he would be back; no one knew that as for the moment, he was scouting for someone new.

“ _What do you think, Victoria Stark?”_


	15. Game Changer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few words start to change the game.

Amanda sat over one of the sofas in the lab, they had handed around the books and parchments, the young woman had pushed her hair back into a thick bun, with a few curls slipping down her face; her eyes were over the book, she had scanned, thanks to Jarvis, most of the information regarding the weapons but still, she was reading the last chapter in which she had noticed they were talking about poison.

Her brother dropped down next to her, he had been the one uncharged of bringing the last batch of coffee; Amanda looked up at her brother, he had dark bags under his eyes and she wondered if they all looked that bad.

“How’s the reading going?” he asked.

“I don’t know” she sighed and scratched her neck “I’ve filtered the information and Shane is looking into some of it, I’m looking into the poisons, but I feel like we are going nowhere, you know?”

“I do” nodded Ben, he glanced down at the book “You want coffee?”

“No thanks” she looked down at the book.

“Stark and Bruce say he’s stable, Amy” whispered Ben, she tensed and looked at him “We are gonna find a way to help him, you have to believe that”

“What if we don’t, Ben, huh?” she looked at him, her eyes big and worried and hurt and Ben gave her a short smile, he reached out to her and took her hand.

“We will, Amy” he gave her a squeeze “And if we don’t, we’ll avenge him, that’s why we are here, that’s why he wanted us here, because he knows we can do this” he looked down at the book “We’ve been training for this for years, we just need to work together”

“Don’t do that” she said softly, not wanting anyone else to hear.

“Do what?”

“I know what you’re talking about” she quirked an eyebrow as he looked up at her “You’re talking about her, and I know you are getting along with her, but I’m finding it hard”

“To work as a group?”

“To trust her” she whispered, he looked at her and he knew what she was going to say “It’s not about the accident, it’s just that I don’t think she knows how to work as a team, or with a team, for all that matters”

“We all need a chance, Amy” sighed Ben, he glanced towards the end of the room, Tory was there, perched over one of the high chairs, her hair in a new hairdo and a mug of steamy coffee next to her as her eyes scanned the book she had propped up against the computer. "This is the first time they are working like this,” he turned to her “Not everyone grew up with SHIELD”

Amanda huffed, a strand of her hair flopping up across her face, she looked at her brother and rolled her eyes for a moment.

“Fine” she finally gave in, because yes, Tory stressed her to levels she didn’t know even existed, but she also knew that Ben was right. “Fine, I give you my word”

“That’s the Amanda I know” he smiled and pulled her hand up to his lips, he pressed them over her knuckles and smiled before he released her hand.

“Stop” Amanda smiled, a genuine smile. “Get back to work”

“Hey, I was bringing the coffee” he chuckled as he pushed himself up, drawing Damara’s attention briefly before she turned back to the parchment she was reading.

 

___________//____________

 

Tatiana cleaned her face, washing away any sign that could tell the others or her brother that she had allowed a few tears to roll down her face when she had been in the bathroom; she couldn’t allow herself to break like this, she had to keep strong and keep going, she had to make sure they could help Steve, she had to make sure they found something on her parents, she had to bring them home, dead or alive.

She took a deep breath through her mouth and turned away from the mirror, her wavy auburn hair was sticking out of her braid, a braid her mother had taught her how to make, the braid flopped to her back and she grabbed the doorknob; SHIELD was hard, but it was harder when family was in danger and right now, half her family was missing.

She walked out of the bathroom, pressing her hands down over her jeans as she made her way back to the place she had claimed as her station; she glanced at Mary’s desk and noticed she had a cup of fresh coffee and she smiled to herself, her body needed to ingest something.

With a sigh, she pulled her chair out and sat down, Ben was walking back to his seat across from her; the Barton twin took her mug and pressed it to her lips, she had never imagined she would come across a better Tea than the one her mother bought.

Then again these were the Starks.

The hot liquid slipped down her throat, sending energetic waves down her body and she made a mental note to ask Howard or Pepper what kind of Tea it was, later on.

“Thanks for the Tea” said Tatiana as she set down the mug, Ben was just pulling out the chair he had been sitting on.

“What?” he asked, he looked at her and sat down, his big eyes over her and Tatiana realized that they were darker than Steve’s.

“The Tea” she signaled the mug “Thanks for the Tea”

“What do you mean Tea?” he frowned, he pushed himself over the table and glanced at her mug, Tatiana raised an eyebrow and tilted the mug so he could see that she didn’t have any coffee in her mug.

Ben looked at her and sat back down “I didn’t bring you Tea, sorry” he blushed “I didn’t know you wanted Tea, or that you didn’t drink coffee”

“Don’t worry about it” she smiled at Ben, his blush made him look even more handsome than what he already was.

“Howard brought you that” answered Damara, she had her head propped over her hand and her eyes were glued over the parchment she had displayed in front of her.

Tatiana glanced at her “Howard?”

“Yes” answered Damara “When you were at the bathroom and Ben with Amanda” she looked up when she felt the two others looking at her “What?” she frowned as she looked at Ben and then at Tatiana “He said you didn’t like coffee, he took the mug and set this one there”

“What did he do with the other mug?” asked Ben.

Damara turned to him and raised an eyebrow at him “I don’t know” she shrugged “He drank it, or he returned it to the pot, or he gave it to his sister, I don’t know” she turned back to the parchment. “But he brought you that”

“Huh” whispered Tatiana, she remembered when he had offered her coffee during the night, but this was also a nice gesture.

The young woman glanced over her shoulder, Howard was ruffling his hair, he was sitting next to his sister, the only two at the table; she noticed he had two mugs over his desk and next to his computer.

A small smile spread over her face “ _Well, would you look at that”_ she thought.

 

___________//____________

 

Thor took a deep breath as the elevator reached the bottom floor, he could feel the familiar strain flowing through his body, the same strain he always felt when Loki was involved in any kind of trouble; and right now, he was again involved in trouble that concerned one of his closest friends.

The doors opened up and he stepped out, he had changed into the casual clothing that Tony and Pepper always kept for him in the Complex; he looked down the hallway and started to walk, already knowing that Loki was aware of his presence.

“Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in” slithered Loki’s voice.

“Loki” Thor’s voice echoed through the room as he reached the glass prison; Loki hadn’t even bothered to stand up.

His brother lay over the bed, his legs crossed at the ankles, his left hand behind his head and his right one throwing something in the air that he gracefully caught when the object precipitated back to him.

“Thor” he spoke, his eyes locked over the object as Thor approached the glass.

“I have come to talk to you” Thor sighed, he watched as the object went up and down and up and down.

“Is that so?” Loki turned his head back to Thor “About what?” and he turned back to the object to catch it one last time.

“About you, about Vali, about the ceremonial daggers”

“Ah” Loki smirked and uncrossed his legs, he swung them over and sat down “Now you want to talk” he leaned over his legs, placing his elbows over his knees.

“The daggers” Thor said, he placed his hand over the glass “I want to know if they can help Steve, I want to know about Vali, and I want to know about your involvement in all of this chaos”

“You think the daggers can help your friend?” asked Loki “They cannot, you will only help him when Vali gets here” he locked his hands behind his back “But don’t worry, BROTHER, from what I can tell, he will be here sooner than you expect”

“So, he will come to New York” Thor whispered.

“Not because he wants too” shrugged Loki “Your friend is here, isn’t he? He will come looking for what he started and he will end it”

“We will stop him”

“Oh” Loki chuckled “Is that so? How? With the bunch of children you have been unable to train to attack? They couldn’t take me, you think they can take a lunatic with an army?”

“When we first got together, the Avengers and I took down a lunatic with an army”

“Oh Thor” smirked Loki, his left hand slipping from behind him to rest over his chest in mock hurt. “You flatter me, and you overestimate your daughter and her friends”

“I want to believe you” said Thor, “I want to think you have changed, but every time I come across you, you are stringing thousand different problems, endangering yourself, I cannot find it in myself to believe you or in you again”

“Oh, so she told you about my question” whispered Loki, assuming wrongly that Victoria had told the others of their chat.

“My wife has told me nothing” hissed Thor “You have done this yourself and when we get out this, I expect to never cross paths with you again”

“Well, where’s the fun in that, brother?” smirked Loki. “Don’t worry about Vali, he will come to you and when he does, you will regret having me locked here”

 

___________//____________

 

Thor walked out of the lab, he had just shared the information with the new Avengers and he was now on his way to see Bruce and Tony; but there was something troubling his mind, he had known all the kids since young ages and he knew things about them, and that was why all the alarms in his system were going off.

Amanda and Tatiana had been thrilled to learn the news, at least they now knew that they should expect Vali to come to New York and that could only work in their favor if they played their cards right; but it hadn’t been that, nor the way Mary had questioned him about the daggers, it had been the question he had been asked at the end.

“So you don’t believe him?” Victoria had asked “If he asked if you believed him, would you say no?”

There wasn’t much to the question and she had gotten a glare from his daughter, an eye roll from her own brother but other than that, nothing had seemed out of the ordinary.

It wasn’t as he headed towards the elevator and as he replayed the conversation with his brother, that Thor started to realize things; he narrowed his eyes and the elevator took him down.

“He will try to manipulate you, Thor” Sif had said “He will find a way with his words, like he always does, be careful, my love”

And he knew she was right, but he hadn’t thought that maybe he would try to manipulate someone else; someone naïve, someone younger.

Someone alone.

Victoria Stark.

He pushed the door of the lab open and Bruce looked up at him, he looked tired and by the amount of mugs around the place, Thor was sure they had barely slept since he had left, but then again, how could they get some sleep when Steve was in such peril?

“Tony” spoke Thor.

“What’s up, Thunder Cat?” asked Tony, he didn’t look up from his pad.

“I need to speak to you” said Thor, Bruce frowned.

“What is it?” asked Tony, he frowned “I cant leave this right now, Thor”

“It’s Victoria”

Tony’s head snapped up to the God of Thunder, Bruce glanced at both men before he focused on Thor and crossed his arms over his chest.

“What’s going on?” asked Bruce.

“Loki” said Thor, Tony raised an eyebrow “I believe he has been trying to confuse her”

“Excuse me?” said Tony “Confuse Tory? How would he do that? He’s down there”

“He said something today, something very similar to a question your daughter just asked me” explained Thor. “He’s not like when he came here the first time, Tony” he glanced at Bruce “He’s older, smarter, he knows how to talk”

“Who to talk to, you mean” said Bruce.

“Yes” said Thor “And I believe your daughter has talked to him”

“You cant just accuse her of sympathizing with him” gasped Tony, the hurt and the tiredness was taking over him.

“I’m not saying she’s sympathizing with him, I’m saying she has talked to him” said Thor “And I think it would be wise to tell her, not to do it”

“Jarvis” said Tony, Bruce could see the color drained from his face “Has Victoria been talking to Loki?”

Bruce glanced at Thor and then at Tony, the AI in the Complex taking a bit longer to answer before the word came through.

“Yes” answered Jarvis.

And Tony was in motion before Thor or Bruce could say something.

 

___________//____________

 

“Tony, this is not the way!” barked Bruce’s voice, Amanda frowned and looked up as Bruce, Thor and Tony walked in the lab; Tony leading the group. “Tony!” hissed Bruce.

“Dad?” said Howard, he stood up from his chair next to his sister’s.

“With the new information that Thor has acquired from Loki” Tony started, his eyes over Tory “I will be asking all of you to abstain yourselves, do not go down there to talk to him without clearing it with us first”

“What?” Tatiana frowned, she looked around the room “Only I have been there” she turned to Howard “Well, I went with Howard, but that was yesterday”

“From today on” said Tony, he glanced at his son and then at Tory and Howard knew what he meant “No one is allowed there without supervision or clearing it with us” the strain in his voice was incredibly audible.

“Um… of course” said Ben “Don’t worry about it”

The tension in the group was harsh, Howard glanced at Tory and she turned to look at him, her eyes hard.

“I didn’t think we’d need permission” she spoke, and Howard had an urge to hit her with a book.

“Well, you do now” said Tony, “Am I clear?”

And that was the first time Tony and Tory would bump heads since all of this began, and that would be the smoothest fight of them all.

“Fine” she shrugged, she crossed her arms over her chest “I only talked to him once”

“Victoria!” snapped Amanda, and Ben groaned internally because this was only making things harder. “When did this happen?”

“This morning” she answered, “I wanted to see him, I didn’t think it would be a mortal sin” she shrugged again.

“What did he say?” snapped Tatiana, was this girl serious?

“Nothing” she answered, “Just asked me if I believed he had done all of this”

“And what did you say?” hissed Howard.

“I left” she looked at her brother “I didn’t answer him, so don’t worry, and he didn’t say anything, he just insulted me, so everything is still fine”

“You will not go down there again,” said Tony “Am I clear, Victoria?”

“Yes, dad” she nodded as she turned to look at her father “Sorry”

And Tony softened up a bit and nodded at her, she offered him a small smile and Tony took a deep breath before he excused himself and left.

Thor looked at Victoria, she was smart, and witty and nice most of the times, but he could see the target she was for Loki; she didn’t have much friends, she was often alone with Jarvis and the team didn’t really like her as much as they liked Howard, he had to make sure his brother didn’t get a chance to talk to her, because he knew the kind of lies Loki feed people and he knew how dangerous they were.

 

___________//____________

 

Having been put out in the open like that made Tory a target, well not exactly a target, but she knew people would be paying attention a bit more to her now, and by people she meant her brother and Amanda.

That why when she heard her brother stepping out of his room, she had asked Jarvis on visuals and had been gladly shown as Howard got in the elevator, heading down to the kitchen.

“Is the kitchen alone?” asked Tory, she needed to know if her brother would run into a distraction.

“Ms. Barton is currently making herself a sandwich” explained Jarvis.

“Fate is on our side, Jarvis” she smiled, pushing her door open “Stay here, I mean keep your body here”

She walked out of the room and towards the stairs, she knew that if her brother saw the elevator heading back up to their floor, he would be on total alert and right now she really didn’t need that; the others were at the lab and Shane was at his room, they had diversified to handle the information and when Amanda had given them out new things to look up.

The young woman walked five more set of stairs before she asked Jarvis to call her the elevator, the AI would only inform Tony or Howard if Tory was heading down to Loki, if they had asked him to do so, and Victoria knew they had both forgotten to put in that request.

“Your brother might go up soon” explained Jarvis as the elevator started to move with Tory inside.

“No he wont” she smirked “He’s down there with the Barton girl, he’ll stay there until she leaves”

“Interesting” said Jarvis.

“Amusing” Tory corrected him.

The doors opened up and she took a deep breath, she couldn’t believe the Jotun had ratted her out to Thor, it was unbelievable, the nerve on that man.

“Back so soon, BROTHER?” the mockery in his voice would have been like a punch if Tory had indeed been Thor.

“The mute is back” she corrected him, she walked out of the elevator and headed towards the cell.

“Ah” snorted Loki, the amusement gone from his voice “The Iron Child”

She came into view and Loki raised an eyebrow, he had been pacing around the cell like a locked tiger, nothing to entrain himself more than his magic and right now he was looking for something else to do.

“I got in trouble because of you” she spoke, “Not that you care”

“I don’t” he shrugged “But I have the impression that trouble follows you around”

She shrugged “You ratted me out”

“Excuse me?” he hissed, he narrowed his eyes as Tory pushed her hair behind her ears with both hands.

“You ratted me out to Thor, told him I had been here to talk to you”

“Well” he cocked his head to the left “The oaf isn’t as stupid as I though he was” she raised an eyebrow “But I did not rat you out, and less of all to that imbecile”

“Really?” she rolled her eyes “He knew I came down here”

“He assumed it was you then” he shrugged “I must have let slip that I had asked you a question, at the time he assumed I was talking about his wife”

“But you didn’t say it was me?” she quirked an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

“No” he answered, his piercing eyes over her as she stared back at him, and Tory was sure that face to face he surely had to be a lot more intimidating.

“Huh” she whispered, but no one moved, no one said anything as they looked at each other, the glass separating them by inches but it felt like they were miles.

She uncrossed her arms after a few seconds, the first to break the stillness in the room, he looked at her, his face not slipping any details of what he was thinking; but it would be Victoria the one to change the game for everyone when she spoke.

“You asked me what I thought about you hurting Steve”

“I did” he spoke, his words liquid and strong.

“You want to know what I think?” she asked, even if she knew that a god would never care what she might think, but she didn’t care.

“What do you think, Victoria Stark?” he answered, he took a step closer to the glass, intrigue flowing through him as he looked at her, she was tall, but he still towered over the young blond.

And Victoria’s words would change everything, the moment they left her soft rosy lips.

“I believe you”

And a smile stretched over his pale and handsome face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The gif fest has begun, sorry!!!!
> 
> are you guys team:  
> #ToryWhatInTheWorldAreYouDoing  
> #HowieMightHaveACrush  
> #TatianaLikesTea
> 
> Let me know if you liked it!!!! love to allll!!! <3 <3


	16. The Winds of Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki has an idea, Mary makes a discovery and Tony looks for higher help

The silence that fell over the room seemed none existent, her darker eyes were over him as he continued to assess the look on her face; his eyes roaming her stern eyes and the way her lashes casted webbed shadows over her cheeks.

A strand of her blond hair rolled off her ear and gently swayed next to her cheek as she looked at him, he wasn’t sure if this was just another trick from Fury and the incompetent of his brother, or if Victoria truly did believe in what he was saying.

But until he figured it out, he would simply go with what she was giving him.

The young woman glanced at him, saying the words out loud changed things, it made them real, she knew her father and her brother would flip if they heard her talking to Loki, and even more if they heard what she had just told him. Truth be told, she wasn’t sure she believe a hundred percent in his innocence, but she did think that concentrating all of their theories in Loki being the culprit couldn’t end well.

So until she figured out if she believed him completely or not, she would simply go with what he was giving her.

“Then I believe we have a lot to talk about” he finally spoke, his voice slithered into the room but it seemed softer than before, a lower tone being used as he looked at her with his piercing green eyes.

“I believe we do” she nodded “I’ll come back later then”

“With the cover of the night?” he smirked, because if she was actually being serious, then her friends probably had no idea that she was fraternizing with the enemy.

“With the cover of the night” she said, turning on her heels without effort and walking down the path she had come through.

Loki watched as she walked away, her blond hair swaying behind her, and the smirk he had been holding up faltered a bit as she disappeared into the elevator; he waited until the doors had closed and he turned on his heels, despite the incredible turn of events, he still had to figure out how to get out that cell.

Of course, now he had a vague idea of who would help with that.

 

___________//____________

 

Shane walked into the lab to find Mary sitting by herself at the work station he had been sharing with her and Amanda just an hour ago; he frowned and looked around the room, he had expected to find everyone else there but now he wasn’t sure where they had all left too.

“Where’s everyone?” he asked as he approached her.

“Amanda and Damara went to get something to eat” answered Mary without lifting her head from what she was reading “Ben said something about talking to Stark and left a few minutes ago”

“Howard?” asked Shane as he pulled his chair out and sat down in front of the young woman.

“No” she turned the page of the book “Victoria, something about her suit, I don’t know, I don’t think he was really talking to anyone but himself when he got up to look for her”

“Why didn’t you go up to the kitchen with Amanda and Damara?” asked Shane.

“I wanted to finish looking at this book” she explained “There’s something I want to ask my dad and Tony or Helen” she looked up at Shane “What do we know about the poison running through Steve’s veins?”

“Not much” said Shane, “Helen said it had to be something from another planet” he frowned “Thor was the one who proposed putting Steve in cryo, he mentioned that that’s how they treat a few poison victims in Asgard when they are looking for an antidote”

“I think I know why we haven’t found anything to help Steve” she looked up at Shane “I think we are looking at the wrong books”

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“Look at this”

“What is it?” he asked, she pushed the book towards him, her index pressed over one of the paragraphs. “I don’t think the poison or its ingredients are Asgardian in origin” she spoke as Shane scanned the page rapidly “I think we aren’t going to find an answer here because they don’t have it, I think the poison is from one of the other seven realms”

“Banner” whispered Shane, his eyes lighting up as he looked up at her, she raised an eyebrow “You’re amazing” he finished before a smile spread over his face “We need to show this to the others” he snatched a small piece of paper from the table and jammed it between the pages before he slammed the book close. “Come on,”

Mary smiled as Shane pushed back his chair and he stood up, she followed closely behind as he looked up at her, waiting for her to reach him so they could head up to find the rest of the group up at the kitchen; if Mary was right, then they could start looking for an antidote in another realm or by figuring out what they could use from Asgard and Midgard to help Steve.

And suddenly it felt like they were getting somewhere, like this mismatched group wasn’t so horrible; like they had a chance to work it out.

 

___________//____________

 

Tony rubbed his face with both his hands, this was eating him alive, he felt useless, he felt inadequate and incompetent; in the last twenty something years he had only felt like this once before and it had been he worse thing to ever happen to his family; he could still hear the echo of the screams in the Complex.

Her screams.

He passed his hands through his hair as the doors of the elevator opened up for him, he had left Helen and Bruce down at the lab and Jane and Darcy were helping with the electromagnetic waves from New Mexico with Eric Selvig, Thor had joined some of the young Avengers down at the kitchen and Tony had gone to look for higher help.

As if the stress from having one of his best friends on the brink of death, his daughter had decided to befriend not only a man who was a criminal, but a man who was considered a criminal on several different plants; he was a universal criminal.

“For fuck sakes” he whispered as he took a turn, the upper floors of the west wing had always made him feel relaxed, maybe it was because Pepper had been the one to design and decorate most of them.

It was a blessing that Pepper had decided to work from home that day, SI was thriving like it never had before and Pepper had been the one to boost the company so much; the success of the company had been their first child, then Howard had arrived and then Tory, but before the two siblings, SI had been the first.

He reached the office and noticed the door was ajar, the smell of violets and foxgloves reached his nose and he wondered how was it that Pepper and himself made things work; his work place smelled of coffee and grease and oil, while her office always smelled like flowers and perfume and tea. He slowed down as he reached the door and slowly poked his head inside, his wife was standing with her back to him, her hip popped to the left and her hair back in a bun and she looked divine.

Tony raised his hand and knocked on the door, Pepper jolted softly and looked over her shoulder, her eyes instantly lighting up as they landed on Tony.

“Tony” she smiled, turning around completely.

“Hey boss” he said, strolling into the office, she could see the tiredness in his eyes and the hurt, but still she gave him a smile and a soft kiss on the lips. “How’s everything going?”

“As usual” she shrugged, “How’s Steve?”

“The same” sighed Tony, he glanced around the room, trying to find a way to talk to his wife.

Pepper had always been willing to listen to him, she had always had his back and she had never put him down for anything, jet this was something he struggled with, talking about the things that made him feel like he was failing, that made him feel like he was a bad father.

“Talk to me” she whispered, her hand reaching out to cup his face, he glanced back at her, her eyes were soft and beautiful. “What’s going on?”

“I’m having doubts Pep” he sighed, the words felt heavy and somehow, they also felt like he was becoming a backstabber.

“With what?” she asked, even if Tony had the impression that she probably already knew what he meant, she was after all Pepper Potts.

“With this idea” he explained, her hand dropped from his face and she took his hand, “Not everything is working like we thought it would” he shrugged “When we talked to Fury and the rest of the Avengers about linking our children to this initiative, it sounded right, it sounded like the logical move, they are exceptional, they are incredible, but there is something wrong happening, I just don’t know what it is”

“With the new team?” she asked, and the way her eyes seemed to drop told Tony, she knew exactly what his answer would be.

“With Tory”

Pepper looked down at their hands, her heart beating rapidly in her chest, she swallowed hard and looked at him.

“I heard about her visit to Loki” she said “Maria and I were informed by Jarvis an hour or so ago”

“I thought she had gotten better, Pep” she could hear the hurt in his voice “But the way she looked today, the way her eyes hardened up, she’s not better Pepper, she’s not the same”

“She’ll never be the same” said Pepper, she squeezed his hand “You know that better than anyone in this family, Tony” his eyes pleaded at her, the only moments of softness he allowed himself where when he was with her. “After Afghanistan, you were not the same either, after his first tour, Rhodey wasn’t the same, he wasn’t the same after his last one” she lifted his hand up to her lips and gave his rough fingertips a kiss “Trauma does that to people, Tony, she will never be the same, she can’t be the same”

“She is already alienating herself from the group” he closed his eyes “Maybe this was not the best idea for her, maybe this isn’t for Tory”

“Talk to her Tony,” he gave her a look “She listens to you, even if you think she doesn’t, you just need the right approach, I can’t talk to her about this because I don’t know about what being an Avenger means”

Tony looked away for a moment, he winced as he remembered his wife running down the hallway in the middle of the night, a storm raging outside; he remembered the way Pepper had leaped out of the bed the second Jarvis alerted them of the upcoming night terror and Pepper hadn’t missed a beat even when she heard the screamed from Victoria’s room, she had pushed the door open and she crawled into the bed and she had held Tory up to her chest as the young woman screamed and cried and tugged at her hair.

This was different, but Tony knew it would end up being as harmful as the nights after the accident, he knew that he would have to step up and talk to her; Pepper was right, she always was.

“From all the people in this Complex” spoke Tony as he frowned and turned to look at her “Why did she have to be drawn to him? Why not Mary or Tatiana? Why not the Rogers? Why did it have to be the lunatic trapped down in the cell?”

And Pepper scanned his beautiful face and sighed heavily “I don’t know, Tony”


	17. The Initiative

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some are working on the cause, others are straying away from the road.

Amanda glanced from the book up to Mary’s explanation, it was simple, yet no one had actually considered it; her heart was racing, there was hope they could figure out what had been used to poison Steve and therefore help him get better, there was hope for her father and that only gave her more hope that they could find Clint and Natasha as well.

“That’s impressive” nodded Damara, her arms crossed over her chest, she was sitting over the kitchen island.

“I know, right?” said Shane, he turned to Mary “You’re amazing”

“Thank you” she whispered, glancing away from Shane and to the rest of the team.

“Ok” nodded Howard, “So the poison is not Asgardian or from earth” he looked around the group “That leaves what? Seven other realms from where it could be, right?”

“Right” said Tatiana. “We just need to figure out which one”

“And how exactly are we going to do that?” asked Tory, she was leaning over the island, her head propped over her hand

“Thor is the king,” Mary glanced at Damara “Like King supreme, am I right?”

“Yeah, something like that” nodded Damara, she arched an eyebrow.

“He could ask for books about poisoning from the other realms” shrugged Mary, “He could even describe what’s happening to Steve to see if anyone can help, right now everything could be helpful”

“She-Hulk, you are amazing” said Tory as she pushed herself away from the island.

Howard’s eyes grew in size before his head snapped to his sister, he had asked her not to call Mary that and that had been the first thing she had done, Tory glanced at him and then at Mary.

“Ups” she whispered “I mean, Banner, you are amazing”

“For fucks sakes” Amanda rolled her eyes, “Are you insane?”

“Jury’s out” shrugged Tory, Ben reached out to hold his sister’s hand but Amanda pulled it away.

“Is everything a joke to you, Stark?”

Howard glanced from Amanda to Tory, his sister looked less than entertained but still she answered.

“Funny things are” she cocked her head to the left, Amanda opened her mouth to bark back but Mary jumped in.

“Actually, you’re not the first to call me that”

Shane’s head snapped back to Mary, he frowned, she looked at him and shrugged, she wasn’t even lying.

“My best friend calls me that too sometimes” Mary explained “It’s fine, it doesn’t bother me”

“It shouldn’t” said Tory “You’re Bruce’s daughter and you are girl Hulk, so” she shrugged, glad that someone was on her side since all this had started.

“We should talk to Thor” said Ben “The sooner we tell him, the sooner he can get the books”

“I’ll go look for him” said Damara.

“Just call him up here” said Tory, she looked up at the ceiling “Jarvis, could you tell Thor we need him at the kitchen?”

“Of course” answered Jarvis.

“I forgot your house had that” whispered Damara.

“He’s a boy” said Tory, she glanced at the Norse girl.

“He’s on his way” said Jarvis.

 

___________//____________

 

Mary had stated her theory out to Thor just like she had done to the group a few minutes before, the Norse King had nodded as he listened carefully; he was sure he could find books about other worldly poisons in his mother’s section of the private library, a library that had been mostly used by Loki after he had been allowed back in Asgard as a civilian and prince and not a criminal.

And after hearing everything and promising to return that very same night, Thor had left the youngsters to fetch his hammer and head to the patios of the Complex so he could be taken back to Asgard.

“That was fairly easy” smiled Tory “Let’s hope he finds the books”

“Still, I’m going to check on the last book” said Mary “Maybe I can find something”

“I’ll start looking into the info Thor brought about Vali” said Shane.

 “I left something harvesting in the lab” said Tory, everyone turned to her, she turned to look at her brother “I’ll be in lab 2 for a few minutes, I’ll be back as soon as I can” he narrowed his eyes “I promise” she rolled her eyes.

“Sounds good” smiled Tatiana, of course there were things that bothered her about Tory, but she wasn’t about to engage in a fight with her, every time Tory opened her mouth; she knew that trust was important in every team, and right now, Tory had to feel like the rest of the team trusted her.

Tory gave Tatiana a soft smile, a genuine one, and with that she turned on her heels and walked away from the group, heading towards the elevator as the rest of them got up and ready to head up back to the lab to finish their research.

The group drifted off towards the stations they had claimed for themselves, Howard sat alone at his station, his sister was away and no one else had decided to sit with them when they had been getting set to start working; he understood though, that his sister was difficult and that more often than not, people didn’t want to socialize with her.

At events and galas, his sister would be usually with one or two young prospects, which would turn into one night stands, but nothing that would ever stick, no friendships to be formed, no relationships to blossom.

“What’s troubling you?” her voice was soft and smooth and quiet.

Howard’s head snapped up, Tatiana was sitting just across from him, a tablet and a book in front of her; how had she gotten there without him noticing?

“Nothing” he sighed, “I’m just tired”

She opened the book on the page she had left it, but her eyes were over him, her eyes that were a strange mix of colors from Nat and Clint.

“I know you think you have to apologize for everything she does” she whispered, “You don’t have to do that”

“I do” he answered, because he had gotten used to it, her reckless behavior before the accident had been something he had become used to fixing, but this, her snappy comments and sometimes hurtful words or the things she said without thinking, those were harder to deal with. “She’s my sister”

“She’s a grown woman” pointed out Tatiana.

“She’s still my sister” shrugged Howard “I will always defend her”

“I’m not saying anything about defending her” she said casually “I’m talking about you apologizing for her”

“I haven’t apologized for her since you guys got here” he pointed out.

“Good” she smiled kindly “Don’t start now”

He smirked and shook his head, looking down at the tablet he had, he turned it on and started to type, Tatiana watching him, the way his wavy dark hair flopped as he moved his hair and the way he narrowed his eyes just before he looked up at her.

“Thanks for the Tea” she said as he looked at her.

“I remembered you said you’d rather drink Tea than coffee” he explained “I forgot to tell Ben when he went for the drinks”

“Someone is a good listener” she cocked her head to the right, her auburn hair falling gracefully as well.

“You’d be surprised” he shrugged, she looked down at her book.

“I already am” she answered, he looked at her, her eyes over the book, he glanced back at the station she had been using with Ben and Damara, the Norse girl was sitting next to Ben, both of them looking down at some parchment. “I’m keeping you company until she comes back” she answered his unanswered question.

“Sounds good” he nodded as he looked down at the tablet, Tatiana stealing a glance at him before she turned back to her book.

Shane watched as his sister walked towards Howard’s station, setting her things gently over the desk before he turned back to his own partner; Mary was frowning as she looked down at the book, she was concentrating but he could tell there wasn’t much she had found; she had abandoned her pen and had propped her head over her hand.

Mary Banner was someone he had heard about for a long time, not only because his parents were friends with Bruce, but because SHIELD had been trying to get her enlisted for several years; always unsuccessful.

Her dark hair was rolling down her side, the tips of her hair a dark shade of green that he hadn’t noticed before, he cocked his head as he looked at her; she was so similar to her father in a few things, yet she was his polar opposite as well, she had been born with the Hulk ability, he had seen her training videos, she was exceptional, the way she handled the change, the way she could control it. She had three mayors and one PhD, and yet she had always remained in the military base.

“Mary” he spoke softly.

“Hm?” she answered back without looking at him.

“Can I ask you something?”

She looked up at him, her eyebrow raised “Of course”

“When this is done, are you going back to the base with your grandfather?”

She looked at him, she had expected a hundred other questions but that one, she pressed her lips into a thin line and shrugged.

“Maybe”

“Why?”

“Why not?” she asked.

Shane’s eyebrows shot up in surprise “Because you are wasting your talent there” he answered truthfully “You’re exceptional and smart and that base is not for you”

“You don’t know that” she said, her voice soft because she knew he was right.

“Yes I do” he said softly “People like Ross can be seen everywhere” he leaned forward “He likes power and he couldn’t have it over your dad, so now he tries to have it over you” she swallowed hard “People like you shouldn’t be kept locked away there”

“And where exactly do you want me to go?” she asked with a sigh “SHIELD isn’t any better, it might be an upgrade, but its not ideal”

“You’re right” he looked at her “You don’t belong at SHIELD either”

She smiled and shook her head, her hair flopping around her “Then where exactly would you say that we belong at?”  

“We?” he smirked.

“Yes, we” she rolled her eyes “You are also being locked away at SHIELD, I know how good you are Barton, you are not the only one who did his research”

He snorted a chuckle “We belong here” he answered “Not with SHIELD or with Ross, with the Avengers, Mary, we belong here”

She gave him a soft smile and shrugged, maybe he was right, maybe there were better things out there for them, but right now they had to focus, when all of this was over, then she could think what to do with her life; Shane gave her a smile back, and she noticed how much he resembled Clint, his eyes screamed Natasha, but most of his features would remind anyone of Hawkeye.

 

___________//____________

 

Maybe it had been wrong what he had done, he was aware of that, maybe he should have not taken then kid away without informing his superiors, but that heat was something he would deal with later; right now he had to concentrate on the kid sitting across from him in the Quinjet.

The kid who came with all the recommendations.

“This isn’t exactly how I planned my day to go” explained the kid, he crossed his arms over his chest “Mind telling me, what’s going on?”

“I believe you are aware of how talented you are” Fury spoke “How impressive you have been in the past”

“I am” he answered, there was no cocky attitude, just facts being laid out.

“I have something to propose to you” Fury continued “Colonel Rhodes has labeled you as the best of the best in the last ten years, and his recommendation has a lot of weight in my eyes”

The kid nodded, James Rhodes was a hero to him, an impressive man with a kind heart, a man who encouraged for the best, a man he wished he could one day become.

“I need a leader for a team” Fury leaned forward “A difficult team, they need someone like you”

“Meaning what?”

“Someone who knows how a team works, how to encourage, how to lead” he shrugged “They are a team with exceptional abilities, you are exceptional because you have determination, you have a goal set, and that is why I need you; you can shape them into the best version of a team that they could be” the kid frowned “A leader isn’t just someone who gives orders, a leader is someone who gives hope, you encourages, who connects with the team, and I know you can do that” Fury sighed “They need a road to follow before some of them stray from the way, away from the cause”

“You think some of them might stray from the cause?”

“I think it’s already happening”

He looked at Fury, this was definitely not how he had imagined his day to go, and he uncrossed his arms and leaned over his knees, his eyes over Fury.

“What exactly are we talking about, then?”

“Son,” Fury smiled “I’m here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative”

 

___________//____________

 

She had indeed gone to check on her suit and the sample she had had Jarvis harvesting for her, but that had been a quick run to the lab, asking Jarvis to duplicate the sample over part of one of her useless suits before she had left the lab; of course she hadn’t been heading towards the group, not just yet at least.

Mary’s words rang deep in her brain, the poison wasn’t Asgardian, the books didn’t talk about it and so far, Helen, Bruce and Tony had only been able to stop it from spreading by freezing Steve up; and somehow, she felt like they were not taking advantage of a brilliant mind.

A dark one, yes, but brilliant never the less, if the tales were anything to go by.

That’s how Tory had found herself stepping out of the elevator, out into a room she was starting to get used to, her legs taking her without much thought towards the cell; her feet were wrapped around in a pair of white Converse but she tried her best not to make much noise, even if she knew that he was aware of her presence.

“Back so soon?” he smirked, even if she couldn’t see him, she came into view just a few seconds later.

“I couldn’t help myself” she explained.

“Of course not” he mocked, he was standing up, his tall figure turned to face her as she stopped and looked at him; he glanced at her hair, it was pulled into a braid unlike her first visit that day.

The silence engulfed them again, he looked down at her and she looked up at him, she would have expected him to look like a caged animal, pacing around the cell, but he wasn’t, he looked calm and serene and she wasn’t sure if that was something good or something bad.

“You say you didn’t hurt him” she spoke “That you didn’t poison him” he cocked his head to the left “But you know what’s running through his system, am I right?”

“If I could get a look at him, I could tell you precisely” he pointed out.

“Yet you can’t see him” she answered “But you must know” she took a step towards the glass, “You aren’t here because you know nothing”

“If he is as predictable as I am sure he is, then yes, I have a vague idea of what is happening to your friend” Loki finally answered.

“That means you know how to cure him,” she stated, he could see the light in her eyes, the hope as he looked at him; and for a moment he tried to remember when the last time someone had looked at him with that kind of sentiment. “You could save his life” she added.

“You think its just that easy?” asked Loki, he glared at her “Just injecting him something, and then he’s back to normal?” she looked at him.

“I don’t know” she shrugged “You tell me, is it that simple?”

“Your friend is alive because my son is an incompetent and an arrogant child” he explained “He will remain alive for a while”

“Until what?”

“Until Vali comes to fetch him” shrugged Loki “My son tried to kill him, but he is also the reason he is still alive” he took step towards the glass “Poison is not the only thing running through his veins, Victoria Stark”

Shock rushed through her face, her eyebrows knitted together, her head turning slightly to the left as she looked at him; he looked down at her, the smirk gone from his lips, this was the moment he had been waiting for; this is how he would manage to get out of there.

“What do you mean?” she asked “My dad hasn’t found anything else”

“Your machines cannot find it” he shrugged, her frown got deeper.

“How do we find it then?” she asked.

“My information has a price” he explained “You can’t possible believe I will tell you everything I know without getting something in return, could you?”

She looked at him, his pale face contrasting beautifully with his dark hair and his piercing green eyes, his posture as he looked at her was perfect; and she couldn’t help but remember that he was a prince, even if he had strayed away from the path.

Loki watched as she looked around, her braid flopping against her chest before she stepped closer to the cell.

“I understand” she nodded “Information has a price, what’s yours?”

A sly smile spread over his face, his eyes still on hers “Are you willing to pay it?”

“Yes” she answered without hesitation, even if she knew hell would rain over her when this reached the ears of the rest. “But I have a request of my own” he quirked an eyebrow “To avoid misunderstandings like before”

“And what would that be?” he asked, his voice dangerously low.

“This remains a secret for now, until I get the others to listen me”

This was his chance, he would never get another opportunity like this “As you wish”

And just like that, a deal was made in the secrecy of the cells in the Avengers Complex.


	18. The Missing Agents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tory makes a discovery but is unable to share it.

 

Tory sat over one of the high chairs, her right foot over the seat and her chin resting over her knee, it wasn’t the best position, but she had gotten used to it after a while, her index and her thumb were pulling at her lower lip and a pair of headphones were sending in the audio records of the last few days since Natasha and Clint had gone missing; her eyes narrowed and her concentration on point.

Tatiana and Amanda had left to meet with Fury, Tony and Bruce, after Fury had arrived in secrecy, asking to meet with the heads of the group and without much more information, the two young women had disappeared.

The youngest of the Stark family, had been to lost in her work to notice that Shane, Damara and Mary had left as well, only realizing it when she tore her eyes away from the computer; Ben and Howard were still around the lab, her brother was standing by Mary’s station, typing rapidly in his tablet, he froze for a moment and looked over his shoulder, his eyes locking over his sister’s as she pulled off the headset.

“Vic” he said, Ben glanced at Howard and then at Victoria “I’m gonna go down to the workshop, check on dad’s suit”

“Sure” she nodded, she knew he meant he was gonna inspect the suit Tony had worn when he and Rhodey had gone searching for Nat and Clint; he looked at her for a moment, wanting to say something else, but instead he gave her a nod and turned back to the tablet.

Howard bit down his lower lip, his eyes over the screen of the tablet, he wanted her to know that he had her back; Pepper had talked to him after Tony and Pepper had talked and she had asked him to talk to Tory; she always seemed to listen more when Howard was the one talking to her.

The thing was, Howard wasn’t sure how to talk to her at the moment.

Ben looked at Victoria, her golden hair had been let lose now, when she had brought in the newest coffee batch it had been pulled back into two buns on her head; he wondered if all the hair changes had something to do with anxiety. He watched as she adjusted the headphones back on her head, setting her chin over her knee once more and her long fingers typing over the computer; she was prettier in person, the photos in her file taking away the contemplative air around her.

Howard turned to Ben, finding the young man looking at Victoria, Howard glanced at Tory and then turned to Ben, the Rogers’ boy shook his head slightly and looked down at his own tablet before Howard spoke to him.

“Some of the gear your father had when he returned home has been handed back from SHIELD” Howard explained “Maybe you’d like to look at it, see if anything seems out of the ordinary”

“SHIELD already looked at it”

“SHIELD isn’t exempt from making mistakes” pointed out Howard “Hydra once did infiltrate them for a long while”

“True” sighed Ben, he locked the tablet and pushed himself up from his seat, he glanced at Tory and then back at Howard, the older Stark was looking at him with amusement. “What about your sister?”

“What about her?”

“Your dad is concerned about her” Ben said “Should we leave her alone, just like that?”

“You think we should keep an eye on her?” Howard raised an eyebrow at him.

“I think maybe we should involve her more” Ben shrugged “Look, I don’t know” he sighed “I just think maybe she shouldn’t be alone that much you know? Yeah, maybe it is keeping an eye on her but what harm can it do, right?”

Howard looked at him and he felt his throat tighten, this guy had been here less than three days and he could already see Tory better than most of the SI staff or the SHIELD agents.

“Yeah” Howard agreed “You’re probably right” which really meant that Ben was a hundred percent right “Let’s just get going and I’ll ask Jarvis to call her into the workshop in a few minutes,” Ben quirked an eyebrow “She doesn’t need to know we are keeping an eye on her, let’s try not to be that obvious”

“You’re right” nodded Ben, because if his sister was not trying the best she could to get along with Tory, Ben sure as hell was going to; yeah Tory was sarcastic and impulsive, but Ben also knew that she was smart and witty and strong, and that was something he wanted on the new Avengers team.

Howard locked his tablet and turned to the door, Ben holding his own with both hands as he followed behind Howard, the lab falling into a terrible silence, an eerie feeling creeping over him as he glanced one last time at Tory before he turned away and followed Howard out of the lab.

“ _Maybe she’s used to this kind of silence_ ” thought Ben as they exited the lab.

Tory narrowed her eyes as she looked down at the computer, the dark screen with the audio playing, her index and her thumb tugged at her lower lip before she tore her eyes away from the computer; her eyes searching for Ben but only finding an empty lab.

“Oh” she whispered, she looked over her shoulder but everyone was gone.

“Mr. Rogers has left to go over some articles belonging to the Captain” explained Jarvis the drone, he was sitting over the table next to the computer.

“Right” she nodded, her hair flopping around her, she cleared her throat and threw her head back, pulling her hair into a ponytail before she turned back to the computer. “The audio is almost over, right?”

“The last few minutes are from last night” explained Jarvis “SHIELD hasn’t gone over them but Sir got to them before they could start looking at them”

“Of course he did” smiled Tory, she cracked her knuckles and looked at Jarvis “Send it in then”

The audio was a bit longer than she had expected, but since she clearly had nowhere to go until later that night, she sat in the high chair, her ears alert and her fingers typing over the computer to get rid of the background noise; the audio had been recollected from the cities that SHIELD considered would be the places for the agents to resurface but so far, nothing had popped up.

Tory propped her head over her hand, her shoulders were tense but she had to finish the tape before she got up to go for coffee; she closed her eyes to concentrate on the sound coming from the headphones, a new conversation was starting to jump in from the outskirts of New York when her eyes popped open.

“Wait!” she cried out into the empty lab, “Back it up!” she sat down straight, her heart racing “Jarvis back it up 30 seconds”

Jarvis didn’t answer but he did what he was told, the conversation starting once again; SHIELD had created a system, with help of T’Challa and Tony, that would filter voices that sounded similar to those belonging to SHIELD agents or government workers, and those were the audios she was receiving.

“Ticket for Nancy Rushmore” said a male voice, a low hum came in response followed by a simple and low female voice saying “Here” and Tory’s eyes widened.

“Nancy Rushmore” she whispered to herself, with one rapid movement, she tugged the headphones off her. “Jarvis, scan for Nancy Rushmore in a conversation between my mom and Nat”

Her heart was beating madly, if she was right, and she was right most of the time, she had heard that name before, and of course she knew that a lot of people could have the name Nancy Rushmore, but if this file had been sent to SHIELD it was because something about the voice had alerted the system T’Challa and Tony had created.

“Two matches have been found” Jarvis’ voice came into the room.

“Fuck yes!” she cried out, slamming her right hand over the desk “See if the _Here_ matches the audio file on Nancy Rushmore we have, J”

“On it” said the AI, and Tory had the impression that there was a tone of pride in his voice, and she smiled, because at least someone was there to see how she added something to the group.

Tory sucked her lower lip between her teeth, the seconds going by like hours before Jarvis spoke once more and this time there was no doubt that there was pride in his voice.

“They match, Tory”

“YES!” she cried out, jumping off the chair “Fuck yes!” she kicked the chair back “Get Ben on the intercom”

Her fingers flew out to the keyboard, she typed rapidly and the file started to download, the audio was from the night before, and from the time it was now, less than 24 hours had gone by and that meant that the Black Widow was alive.

“Hello?” said Ben’s voice.

“Benny!” she gasped, her eyes over the screen “I found something!”

“What is it?” he asked, she could hear him moving around things. “Mary and Shane are here”

“Cool, amazing, whatever” she shook her head, forgetting that Shane was in fact Nat’s son “Look man, I was going through the audio files from last night that my dad stole from SHIELD and I found something”

“What is it?” asked Mary’s voice.

“I think I found something about the Black Widow” she explained

“What?!” gasped Shane “What did you find? Tory?!”

Tory glanced over her shoulder, one of the three windows of the lab sat behind her, the night was starting to fall, but still she noticed the movement outside.

“What?” she whispered.

“Tory?” said Shane.

“Jarvis?” she called out as she turned around fully to face the window.

“Tory, are you ok?” said Mary.

“What is that?” she asked.

“Tory, what are you talking about?” asked Shane “Are you even talking to us?”

“Step away from the window” Jarvis’ voice came loud and clear, even Shane, Mary and Ben could hear it. “Victoria now!”

“Tory what’s happening?!” barked Ben.

And before she could answer to Ben, Tory’s eyes widened as she took a step back away from the window; the figure outside gaining speed, and shape and even if she recognized who it was, her mind was only screaming alert.

“VICTORIA!” snapped Shane through the intercom just as the arrow from the swinging Hawkeye impacted against the window of the lab.

 

The costume made arrow hit the window and it exploded, the shards of glass flying out to Tory; the young woman screamed and her arms flew out to cover her face, the flying glass diamonds mixing with the smoke and the lights in the lab changed, turning red to alert of the threat as the young woman stumbled back, her right hip hitting the edge of the table before she crashed to the floor.

Tory groaned with pain as a piece of glass jammed itself up her back, she closed her eyes, as her brain tried to figure out what was happening; she opened her mouth and gasped for air, tears swelling in her eyes as she opened them just in time to see Clint Barton climbing up the broken window and panic shot up her body.

Tory crawled back, pushing shards of glass away from her as she tried to push herself to a sitting position and then push herself up; blood was gushing out her back where the shard was still sticking out and thin strings of blood rolled down her arms, she hadn’t noticed the gash she had over her left eyebrow.

“No, no, no” she whispered, she pressed her hands flat over the glass and pushed herself to a sitting position before she twisted her body, getting on all fours and pushing herself up to her feet

Clint set foot over the lab just as Tory launched herself forward and away from him, but Clint Barton was one of the best agents SHIELD had and would ever see, and with the agility only he had, he launched himself after her, his left hand reaching out and grabbing her ponytail and pulling her back to him.

“Where are you going?” he spat as her back crashed against his chest, the glass piercing deeper in her, and it was distorted and sick and Tory winced at the pain of his grip.

Tory gasped for air, and her survival mode kicked in, of course she wasn’t a SHIELD agent and she couldn’t hold a candle against Clint Barton, but Natasha had taught her a few things and as long as she could get away from his grip, she could have a chance to get out of there.

After all, that was her goddam house.

She threw all her weight against him, her legs kicking up and her feet landed over the edge of the table, that thank god Tony had bolted to the floor after Tory and Howard had blown them off the window by accident, and with all the strength she had, she kicked herself back.

Clint stumbled briefly, and Tory threw her elbow back, as she dropped her body down, she remembered Natasha telling her to use her body weight as a weapon and if she had to go bald from the grip Clint had on her hair, she would.

Clint’s grip around her ponytail slipped and Tory crashed over the glass on her knees, without losing time she threw herself forward towards the door; she staggered to the side and Clint pulled out a knife from his belt, with a flick of his wrist, the knife crossed the space between them.

The knife bounced back just as Jarvis the drone shifted from its circular form to a shield as Tory hurried towards the door; he couldn’t do much as a drone, but he wasn’t about to let anyone hurt his girl.

Tory slipped on the floor, hitting her side against the door frame, she grunted but pushed herself off and out the room, her heart was racing, her breathing was ragged and blood was rolling down her back but her mind was screaming just one thing.

“ _Where’s Natasha?”_

___________//____________

Howard was racing up the stairs, his heart slamming in his chest and the arm of one of his suits on, the red lights in the tower made things harder to see but he knew they would last a few seconds, enough to alert the whole complex about the threat and then they would go back to normal.

He was running past a window, when the crystal exploded; Howard staggered back, his suited arm covered up to his face as he hit his back with the handrail and forced his arm away from his face to see Natasha standing in the hallway, her red hair was straightened down and her eyes, normally green, were pitch black.

“Look what the cat dragged in” she said, her voice distorted and sick and with one swift movement in the shape of an X with both arms, the widow bites appeared down her arms.

And with that, she threw herself over Howard.

Howard reacted fast, his protected arm flying up to hit one of the widow bites, Natasha grunted as she pushed down, swinging her second baton and hitting Howard on the ribs, the electricity shooting up his body painfully.

Howard barked out a curse as his knees wobbled and he crashed down, making an effort to hold the second baton away from his face as his shirt partially burned off under the pressure of the widow bite against his ribs.

He closed his eyes, his body screaming in pain, his mouth open and gasping for air just as the heavens heard his silent plea of help and Damara came charging in.

 

 

 

Natasha barely had time to turn to her left as Damara jumped to her feet, her left leg  extended forward and before Natasha could step away from the Norse girl; Damara crashed against Natasha’s chest and threw her away from Howard.

The Black Widow staggered back and hit her back with the wall behind her, she gasped for air as Damara jumped to her feet and raised her fists, her wavy hair bouncing behind her in a braid and her body posture protecting Howard as the young man gasped for air and pushed himself up to his feet.

With a growl, Natasha rushed back to attack the young woman, her electric batons up and ready to hit Damara; and Damara charged towards Natasha. Her left baton rose to hit her, but Damara grabbed it midair and twisted Natasha’s arm, Natasha was an extraordinary agent, but Damara was the daughter of lighting and she too was extraordinary.

Natasha hit with her right arm, slamming the second baton against Damara’s knee and bringing the girl down to her knees; she tugged the baton away from Damara and Howard shot at Natasha.

The air blast from the arm of his suit hit Natasha square on the chest and threw her back and down the stairs, he rushed towards Damara and helped her up her feet as Natasha pushed herself up to her feet and raced down the stairs.

“Avengers!” barked Howard into the intercom in his watch “Natasha Romanoff is on the loose, she is armed and dangerous” he turned to Damara “Thank you”

“Of course” nodded Damara “Come on, we need to find her”

___________//____________

 

Tory scrambled up towards the stairs, her heart was racing, her body was screaming and she needed help; she crashed to her knees, the hot blood rolling to her stomach as she heaved for air, she didn’t have the suit, she didn’t have any of the guns around the complex.

“The shard” she whispered between pants, her left hand reached out to her back, her fingers instantly landing over the piece of glass that had jammed itself in her back. “Pull it out, pull it out” she said, closing her eyes “PULL IT OUT!” she screamed and she wrapped her fingers around it and pulled it out.

She groaned loudly, more blood rolling down her skin and clothes, her fingers cutting against the glass but at least she had something to defend herself because she knew there was no chance she could outrun Hawkeye.

Tory gasped and pushed herself up to her feet, she was panting and sweating and bleeding, her mind asking over and over where was everyone.

“ _One chance”_ she remembered Steve telling her once “ _Sometimes you just have one chance to hit your enemy, make it count Vic”_

And she was going to make it count, that was for sure.

Clint came running up the stairs just a few seconds after Tory had pushed herself up to her feet, his pitch black eyes looked soulless and she held her breath as he came to a stop and looked at her, cocking his head to the left, almost as if that was the first time he had ever seen her; like he had never helped her train, like he had never cracked jokes with her in the lab just to annoy the living days out of Tony and Tasha.

His eyes glanced down at the piece of glass and a smirk appeared over his face “You really think you can win a knife fight?”

“You really think you can’t lose?” she asked back.

“Let’s find out” he snarled before he was throwing his body against hers.

He trapped her between his body and the floor, just like she was sure he would do, her head hit the floor hard and her back wound hissed in pain; she gasped as he pressed his right hand just below her neck, his eyes over hers, his legs holding hers in place as she looked up at him.

He added pressure to her neck, she closed her eyes as she gasped, her fingers had loosened around the glass but she had to get him off her.

“This is how it feels” he hissed as he leaned his face to hers “High impact on the chest can make you feel like you're suffocating” and the tears started to rush down her face “This is how it must have felt, don’t you think?” her lips opened up to gasp for air and a sob slipped out “When the accident happened, it must have felt like this” a twisted grin appeared over his ever so gentle face “It must have been agonizing”

The tears rushed down her face, her body screaming in pain and her brain trying to un-hear what he was saying; she closed her eyes, this wasn’t Clint, he would never say these things, he would never hurt her like this.

“How does it feel?” he spat at her and Tory’s grip around the shard tightened.

“You tell me, bitch” she spat back just as her hand rose up and she slammed the shard between his ribs.

Clint gasped in surprise as Tory pulled the shard out and jammed it in again, she twisted it inside his body and Clint groaned loudly, his hands leaving her body and reaching out to hold his side; she kicked herself away from him as Clint dropped over his ankles and then his eyes focused on her.

“I’m done playing games” and his left hand went behind his back.

And the gun came out, pointed at her.

Tory gasped, she recoiled away from him but Clint was already pushing himself up to his knees, gasping and bleeding and Tory widened her eyes just before a pair of arms wrapped around her and she was lifted up from the floor and spin around; the gun firing behind her.

She was dropped on the floor, Tory glanced around her shoulder to watch as Mary turned around back to Clint, her usual tanned skin had been replaced by a light green and her hair was a darker shade of green; her hands in fists and the bullet crushed at her feet.

Mary looked at Clint and Clint stared back at her, surprise over his face, he aimed at Mary and shot again; but the bullet, just like the first one, was crushed as soon as it hit her skin.

“Dad” whispered Shane, Tory looked up at him.

“Get her out of here” said Mary, and Shane noticed Tory on the floor, he knelt down next to her.

“Shit” he whispered, his hands hovering over her, not sure where he could touch and were she was injured.

Clint wasn’t sure what to do, but the voice in him was screaming at him to charge against the green girl, to take her down and even if something primal in him was telling him not to, his body rushed towards her.

Mary spin around, missing the third shot and her right arm reached out, her hand wrapping around Clint’s neck and she lifted him off the ground, slamming him against the wall; Clint gasped and Shane pushed himself up to his feet, instantly forgetting about his injured teammate.

“Mary no!” he gasped.

“Fuck” whispered Tory, she was gasping with pain and without much thought she leaned her forehead over the floor and closed her eyes as the tears streamed down her face, his words echoing hard in her brain.

“Don’t worry” whispered Mary “I’m not gonna hurt him”

Clint squirmed under Mary’s hand, gasping for air for a few seconds before he went limp and passed out, dropping the gun and Mary sighed as she pulled him away from the wall and set him gently over the floor.

Mary knelt next to Clint and checked his pulse, he was fine, but at least he was out of combat; she stood up and turned around to look at Shane, their eyes met and she gave him a soft nod that he returned with a weak smile before Mary looked down at Tory and Shane remembered the injured girl.

He knelt next to her, his right hand reached out to her shoulder.

“Tory” he whispered.

“Fuck off” she sobbed, she squirmed away from him.

“Tory, come on” he said again, his hand landing over her once more.

“Don’t touch me!” she hissed, pushing herself up, slapping his hand away from her, and the hurt in her eyes was obvious, how come she was always the last one? “You didn’t help me then, don’t help me now”

“Tory” he sighed, “Don’t be like that, he’s my dad” Mary hovered over Clint before she decided to pick him up in her arms

“And I’m bleeding, you motherfucker!” she snapped, just as Bruce and Amanda rushed into the hallway.

“Tory!” gasped Bruce, hurrying towards her as Amanda pointed her gun at Hawkeye.

“He’s unconscious” said Mary, she looked down at Clint “I don’t know for how long, we need to do something before he wakes up and tries to kills us”

“Let me see” said Bruce, his delicate hands moved away part of her shirt and he looked at Amanda “We need to take her to the hospital wing, cover me”

“Of course” Amanda nodded, Bruce passed a hand under Tory’s armpits and helped her up, she groaned and bit her lower lip as her legs trembled, cuts from the glass were also on her knees.

“I’ll lead the way” said Bruce, he glanced at his daughter “Follow me, we need to sedate him before he wakes up” Tory leaned over Bruce, her blood sticking to his clothes “You’re gonna be fine, Tory”

“Ok” she whispered as Shane and Mary followed behind Bruce, Tory and Amanda.

 


	19. Cracks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cracks in the team being to show

As Mary and Shane reached Tory just in time to safe her from getting shot, Natasha stormed into one of the main hallways, her hectic mind was trying to organize the information she had on the building; but she was a bit disorientated to say the least.

The door at the other end of the hallway was pushed open and a young woman with auburn hair and a young man rushed out; the young woman stopped in her tracks, shock spreading over her face as Natasha looked at her, she looked familiar, but not enough to make a difference.

“Mom?” whispered the girl, Natasha frowned and her left hand reached for the gun at the back of her belt, she had mission, and all these kids were not part of it.

“Move” said Natasha, her gun pointed at the young woman, her eyes were over Natasha and she was sure they were swelling with tears. “Move or I will shot you”

“Mom, it’s me” whispered Tatiana, she raised her right hand out to signal that she meant no harm “It’s me, Tatiana”

Natasha narrowed her eyes, whatever nonsense was taking place in this building, she was over it, she was here to take what she had been asked to retrieve and she wasn’t going to get distracted because a weepy girl was telling her she was her daughter.

“Put the gun down” the voice came from behind her and Natasha cursed as she glanced over her shoulder rapidly, the boy with the dark hair and the girl with the flying kick were back; she tightened her jaw but turned to Tatiana and Ben.

“Mom, please put the gun down” Tatiana pleaded, but Ben acted faster than Natasha would have thought and under any other circumstance, she would have been so proud of the boy Steve had raised.

Natasha pulled the trigger just as Ben threw himself over Tatiana, shoving her violently out of the way and the bullet scrapping his back as he fell over the floor; he hissed but turned to her, grabbing the gun from his jeans that he had retrieved from one of the rooms when the communication with Tory had been lost.

“NO!” cried Tatiana but Ben pulled the trigger, aiming to Natasha’s right leg as Damara jumped towards her.

Natasha spin around with the gracefulness that only the Black Widow would ever have, her red hair swinging around her as she raised her gun, Damara crashed a few feet in front of Ben and Tatiana and cried out a warning as Natasha pulled the trigger in a deadly ballet dance and shot Howard on the shoulder.

“HOWARD!” cried Tatiana, as the young man screamed in pain and was thrown back with the impulse of the bullet, he hit the wall and his suited arm rose up to shot at Natasha.

Natasha crouched rapidly, missing the air blast from Howard, she pulled out a knife and pointed at Howard with her gun as she glanced back at the trio and without thought she threw the knife at Damara and Ben took another shot at Natasha.

This time he did hit her.

The knife flew a few inches over Damara’s head and the young woman wondered how on earth she had gotten in this mess; their friends were trying to kill them, Howard was already shot and now it looked like the only way to take down Natasha would be if they shot her down too.

Natasha hissed with pain, her leg wobbled and bent and she knelt down, her gun at Damara and Ben, forgetting about Howard because he was already hurt, and he wasn’t a threat like the rest of them were.

And since this wasn’t Natasha entirely, she didn’t realize this was her biggest mistake.

Ben glanced over Natasha and his eyes locked with Howard, the young Stark nodded at Ben and Ben took a step towards Natasha.

“Stop right there” said Natasha “You think I won’t kill you because you’re a child?”

Ben stopped and looked at her, her eyes were pitch black and up close he could see dark veins over her face, something was happening to her it was more than obvious, but the question was; how dangerous was it for Natasha.

Howard pressed his lips into a thin line to avoid the groan from slipping out as he adjusted his body, he aimed the suit arm towards Natasha and fired just as Ben jumped out of the way.

The air blast hit her on the back and she cried out as she was thrown forward, losing the gun and Damara rushing to hold Natasha down as Ben raced towards the gun; the Norse girl grabbed Natasha’s right arm and twisted it behind her body, pressing Natasha’s chest to the ground as Tatiana hurried towards her and Ben turned to Howard.

Ben crouched next to Howard, he could feel his own blood rolling down his back but his wound had been superficial, Howard’s on the other hand, he could see it hadn’t.

“Shit” whispered Ben “Are you ok?”

“I’m alive” pointed out Howard “And that’s a lot to say, seeing I was just shot by the Black Widow”

Ben chuckled even if he found this whole thing horrible, but at least one thing was true, both Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff were alive, and that was enough.

“Come on, man” said Ben “We’ll take you to the medical bay”

“Yeah” grunted Howard as Ben helped him up to his feet “You need medical attention too, dude”

“I’m pretty sure we’re not the only ones” sighed Ben as he turned to Natasha who had been tied up by both Tatiana and Damara with what used to be Damara’s sweater.

 

___________//____________

 

Fury walked into the medical bay a few minutes after Tony had managed to get Pepper and Maria to leave with Helen; both mothers had been horrified and Tony had seen the shock and the possibility of tears in Pepper’s eyes when her eyes hand landed over their bloody daughter; Maria, hadn’t been far from tears either, knowing her husband was on the brink of death made it even worse when she saw Ben bleeding.

It took him a few minutes to get them to leave, but finally they had and Tony had felt relief flowing through his system, especially because he would later have to go talk to them and tell them about the change of plans for the stay of both mothers in the Complex.

Little did he know that his relieve would be short lived.

“This is good then” said Fury his eyes over the sedated Clint and Natasha who had been restrained by Tony’s armor.

“That’s one way to see it” sighed Tony, he shuffled his weight from one leg to the other, there was a pressure in his chest that he was really trying to ignore.

“At least we know they are alive” said Bruce, he adjusted his glasses and walked up to Tony and Fury “That’s one thing”

“Yeah, but what is wrong with them?” asked Damara, the seniors turned to her “Their eyes are wrong and their fighting skills are not that great”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that” said Tory, she turned to Damara “At least you didn’t get stabbed with glass and choked by Clint”

“Clint’s system doesn’t show anything abnormal” explained Bruce “Which worries me a lot, seeing that this is probably some trick like the first time Loki was here”

“Their eyes are different though” said Tony, he narrowed his eyes as he looked at Natasha “Clint’s eyes weren’t black when Loki possessed him”

“No” agreed Bruce “Doesn’t mean its not another trick”

“You’re right” sighed Tony.

“But there has to be a way to fix them” said Shane, he glanced at his sister “We cant leave them like this forever, there has to be a way”

Tony looked at Bruce, this was getting harder by the minute, three of the Avengers were out of combat and they had no clue as to how to fix them; Tony passed a hand over his face but Fury spoke first.

“They were clearly on a mission” everyone turned to Fury “If their intent had been to kill everyone, they would have done it” he looked at Tory “You were in his way, if you had been his target he would have killed you”

“Thanks for the pep talk” hissed Tory, she rolled her eyes.

“Whatever it is, we are still in control of it” said Fury “That gives us an upper hand”

“What use is an upper hand if we don’t know what they wanted?” asked Mary, she crossed her arms over her chest “Every time we get one answer, a million new questions pop-up, I feel like we are running in circles, doing nothing!”

“Ok” said Bruce “Mary, breath, its not that simple”

“Wow, really?” snapped Mary “Wouldn’t have realized it” she rolled her eyes and slumped against the bed Ben was sitting over with Amanda.

“What if it was an escape plan?” asked Amanda’s soft voice.

“What?” whispered Howard, he glanced at her, Tory next to him had stopped playing with her fingers.

“An escape plan” said Amanda, she looked at Howard “Think about it Howard,” she turned to Tony and Bruce. “We don’t have anything they want, but we have someone they are looking for”

“Loki” said Shane.

Tory tightened her jaw and looked up from her lap to Shane, he was looking at Amanda.

“It would make sense, right?” said Amanda “Natasha was heading down when Tatiana and Ben intercepted her, Clint was a few floors above yes, but maybe he just had to cover Natasha until she got Loki”

“Those are a lot of assumptions” said Tory, Amanda looked at her “The cellar is also downstairs and Fury and your dad keep a lot of shit down there”

“Tory” barked Tony, she glanced at her father.

“It’s true,” she frowned “Pieces of the Chitauri army and weapons are down there” she glanced at Fury “Fitz and Simmons have brought things here too, things that Coulson doesn’t trust in SHIELD’s hands, and you are telling me there is nothing here worth stealing?”

“Victoria” snapped Tony “Enough, this is not the time”

“No!” she pushed herself up to her feet. “We cant have just one theory, dad”

“Why are you so fucking centered in saying he didn’t do this?!” barked Amanda, she too pushed herself up to her feet “Look at what he did to my dad!” she pointed at Tory “Look at Natasha and Clint, for fucks sakes!” she pointed at Clint “You think he didn’t do this? He has the power to manipulate minds and you think he’s innocent? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Just because he’s fucked up before doesn’t make him guilty!” hissed Tory.

“Stop it!” barked Tony, anger and frustration were rushing into him. “Both of you!”

“He’s a villain! An intergalactic one for all that matters!” snapped Amanda.

“She’s right” agreed Damara, she looked at Tory but took a step towards Amanda.

“Oh excuse me” gasped Tory “I must have missed the part of the Black Widow not being a villain once”

“Victoria!” roared Tony, Tatiana shot her a glare and Shane tensed his jaw.

“Tory, listen to me” started Shane, she snapped her head to him.

“Really?” she spat “Like you heard me whining and crying when I was bleeding? Fuck off!”

“Enough!” barked Fury, the screaming contest had gone too far.

“Loki didn’t even know if they were still alive, Rogers!” snapped Tory and her words echoed so hard that the room fell silent.

“What?” whispered Tony.

 

Tory looked at Amanda as she realized what she had said, she turned to face her father, their dark eyes meeting each other.

“What did you just say?” snapped Tony, and for a moment, Iron Man forgot the other people in the room.

Tory swallowed hard but she held her ground “He didn’t know if they were still alive”

“How do you know that?” asked Tony, he took a step towards his daughter. “Answer me!” he barked, Tory flinched and Tony knew he would regret it later.

“He told me so” she explained “When I talked to him, he told me that” she hardened her eyes.

“Oh my god” gasped Tony “When I asked you about talking to him, you said you had said nothing, why are you lying?”

“I wasn’t” she said, her voice steady unlike her heart “I went down to talk to him again after you left”

And Howard was sure he had never seen his father’s face change so fast, he shook with anger as he looked at his daughter, Tory holding her ground and looking at him; and for a moment Tony had no idea who he was looking at, his daughter, the girl how had always been so fierce about protecting others, the girl he knew would lie her ass off to protect Howard so he wouldn’t get in trouble, the girl who he spend so many days in the workshop just laughing and joking, the girl he had seen reborn after the accident.

This was not his girl.

This was not Tory.

“Leave” Tony finally spoke, his words soft but powerful, she opened her mouth but Tony raised his hand and looked away for a split second “Leave Victoria” Tory lost her courage for a moment and glanced at her brother, Howard looked horrified as he looked back at her. “Go to your room” he continued and Tory felt her cheeks blush “I’ll talk to you later” he looked at her, and his eyes were stern but to his disbelieve, so were Tory’s.

“He’s not lying dad” she said.

“You would know, wouldn’t you?” spat Amanda.

“Quiet” barked Fury.

Tory swallowed hard but walked straight to the door behind her father, making her best effort not to touch her father’s shoulder with her own; Tony closed his eyes for a moment, holding his breath and tensing his jaw.

Tory stopped at the door and balled her hands into fists, she took a deep breath and spoke the hardest words Tony was yet to hear from het, just before she walked away from the medical room and the Avengers.

“I believe him”


	20. Different Shades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unwanted visitor pisses off the wrong woman.

The silence that followed Tory’s departure could almost certainly cut through Vibranium, Tony was stiff, with his back to the door and his jaw clenched, Howard glanced from the door to his father’s face and he was certain that in all his years, he had never seen Tony look so confused and hurt and angered at the same time.

Amanda swallowed hard, her eyes drifting from Nick to Ben, her brother, the youngest of the team present in the room had crossed his arms over his chest and was looking down at his feet; somehow this felt so intrusive, like they shouldn’t be there yet they did.

Tatiana looked at her mother, the words Tory had spoken had been hurtful but they had been the truth, Natasha had once been a villain, an assassin and right now, Natasha was sitting there, in silence, her eyes pitch black and she looked nothing like the loving mother who sang lullabies in Russian. The auburn young woman glanced at Howard, the young man who had been so pleased to show them around the Complex, the young man who had remembered she liked Tea, the young man who had simply molded himself perfectly into the mismatched new Avengers team, that young man was gone; in his place stood a young man with an incredibly pale face, his eyes were huge and Tatiana could see the pain and the strain behind them.

His words echoed in Tatiana’s head, and she pressed her lips into a thin line before she looked away. “ _She’s still my sister, I will always defend her”_

And just now, Howard had realized that he couldn’t defend Tory from herself.

Thor and Bruce exchanged a worry look, they had been there after the accident, they had been at the hospital and the way Tony was looking right now, resembled terribly the way he had looked when he had arrived to the hospital that tragic night.

Damara shifted her position, she had sided with Amanda and she had seen the expression over her father’s face when she had voiced it to the group; she knew that Thor wanted to believe that somehow there was a way that Loki wasn’t in so deep into this mess, but there wasn’t.

Loki would always be Loki and now he was dragging down Tory to his own personal hell.

Mary bit her lower lip, her eyes darting to Shane, the young man looked at her as soon as she set her eyes over him; his dirty blond hair was flopping over his forehead and she could see the relieve in his eyes, at least he now knew that his parents were alive. And despite all the tension growing by the second, she offered him a soft smile, he cocked his head to the left, admiring the way the tips of her hair remained a light green and his lips stretched into a smile as he looked at her.

“This is a disaster” Tony finally spoke, his left hand ruffled up his hair. “I knew this wasn’t a good idea”

“Stark” spoke Nick Fury, the way his voice softened shocked everyone in the room “This is not on you”

“Well,” he chuckled bitterly “That’s a first, isn’t it” he turned to look at Nick “I’ll talk to her in a few minutes, we’ll go from there”

But Tony knew, he knew what had to be done with Tory, he could feel the unspoken agreement in the room as he looked at Nick.

“Ok” nodded Nick, he wasn’t going to push it, he knew better than that, and he knew the decision in Tony’s mind.

Iron Man frowned and his left hand reached out, he rubbed it over his chest and Howard frowned instantly, he opened his mouth to speak but Jarvis cut into him with even worse news and more conflict.

“Sir,” his voice was soft as it always was.

“What’s up, J?” asked Tony, he stopped rubbing his chest and looked up at slightly.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but an unwanted visitor had arrived and is now demanding to speak to you”

Tony frowned as did Fury and Howard. “Who is it?”

“General Ross, sir”

Mary’s gasp broke into the silence that dropped as soon as Jarvis was done speaking, Shane took a step forward as he noticed the way her hair was shooting up with a vibrant green color; Bruce’s head snapped towards his daughter.

“Fuck’s sakes” hissed Tony, he turned to Bruce “Green Guy, come with me” he turned to Fury “Debrief Howard with the Rogers” and with that he was out of the room, his pace sharp and precise because he was Tony Stark and he had endured hell and back and he knew damn well he could do it again.

Mary turned to her father, her eyes wide and her skin tainting up with a soft green, the scientist rushed towards her and his hands landed over her shoulders, her eyes over him.

“I’ll be fine” he said, his voice a lot steadier than he felt, because he wasn’t sure how true that was.

“Dad” she whispered, her eyes huge because Ross was there because she was there, if she had kept her promise to stay away from Bruce, then her grandfather wouldn’t be here, he wouldn’t be trying to break down the Complex door, he wouldn’t be bothering her father. “I’m sorry”

“Don’t be” he said, he frowned and looked down at her “I’m not sorry you’re here” he pulled her towards him and planted his lips over her forehead, she closed her eyes for a moment, and Shane and Tatiana watched as the green shade faded away from her hair and her skin. “I love you”

“I love you too” she whispered before Bruce pulled his hands away from her and hurried away down the road Tony had taken.

“Thor” said Nick, Thor looked at him “Escort our new guest down to the cells, take Agent Barton with you too” he knew Shane and Tatiana were looking at him with shock over their faces “As of now, and until we can figure what is wrong with them, they are to be treated as a threat” Thor gave him a nod even if he felt utterly strange having to restrain his friends “Rogers” he turned to kids of Maria Hills “Come with me” he glanced at Howard “You too”

And in a swift movement, Nick was hurrying out of the room, Tatiana could feel her heart slamming against her chest, she turned to Thor.

“Thor” she whispered, he looked at her.

“Worry not, Lady Tatiana” he spoke, soft and caring like only Thor could be “No harm shall come to them” he looked at his daughter and then back at Tatiana “If you would please allow me”

Tatiana knew that meant they should be leaving the room, but her heart was racing, she glanced at her brother, he looked at her and without much of a word, he wrapped his hand around her wrist and tugged at her, Damara looked at Mary and with a nod, both girls walked behind the twins and out of the room.

 

___________//____________

 

“Where is he?!” demanded Tony as he stepped out of the elevator, his hands were clenched in fists; Bruce was hurrying behind him. “Jarvis?!”

“He is currently in the waiting room of the SI offices” explained Jarvis, Tony took a curve, and Bruce wondered how they had managed to get to the west wing so far in a Complex that had to be the biggest facility in all the States.

“Tony” Bruce called out, and against his better judgment, he reached out and his hand landed over Tony’s shoulder, Tony spin around rapidly and looked at Bruce “You don’t have to do this, let me talk to him”

“Are you out of your mind?” asked Tony, his voice lacking the mockery in it that it usually had. “I will not allow him to barge into our facility, my home and demand to speak to me, I will not allow him to threaten me, or you, or Mary, not here, not now and not ever” his eyes were blazing with anger “You are my friend, you are family and if he thinks he can just show up and demand and threaten, then he has no idea how he is messing with, Bruce, I am Tony Stark and this is my home!”

And Bruce dropped his hand from Tony’s shoulder, because this was the man he had befriended, the one who worried and cared about his friends and family.

But Bruce was just about to learn that Tony wasn’t the only one ready to chew Ross up and spit him out.

Tony shoved the door of the waiting room open, and there he was, standing with his back to the door like he owned the place, he barely glanced over his shoulder as Tony walked in followed by Bruce; Tony opened his mouth to let out a sarcastic comment, when the second door at the other side of the room was shoved open and Pepper and Maria walked in.

“General Ross” Pepper said, coming to a halt at the same time as Maria and Tony remembered why Clint had once said that all their wives together could end wars.

“Mrs. Potts” said the General as he turned around to look at her. “Mrs. Rogers”

Maria said nothing, her glare enough to make Ross set his attention on Pepper, Pepper who he knew had never been involved in SHIELD.

An easy prey.

Tony and Bruce looked at each other, an urge in Tony was screaming at him to step in but then there was the look in Pepper’s eyes and he was sure this was one of those moments in which he knew that Pepper would do more than he could.

Ross glanced over his shoulder and his eyes piercing into Bruce, the man held the general’s gaze, and Tony held his ground next to his friend; both only daring to move once Ross had turned back to Pepper.

“I think you know why I’m here” he spoke.

“Of course I do” nodded Pepper “You are just that predictable, General”

“Look, Mrs. Potts, the issue here is very simple” he said, “You have to options, Dr. Banner can come with me on his own, or I will be forced to remove my granddaughter from the Complex”

Pepper looked at him as he spoke, she cocked her head ever so slightly to the left and Maria narrowed her eyes; she was friends with Pepper and even if she knew Pepper could handle this, she was not going to step an inch away from a woman who had become as close as a sister was.

“I’m gonna stop you right there, General” said Pepper, “I do not appreciate you coming into my home and demanding things from me under my very own roof” she narrowed her eyes “I think I should start by informing you that none of your options will be accepted” Ross opened his mouth but Pepper was not done. “Dr. Banner is a guest here, he’s an Avenger and a world known scientist, that being said, the Hulk, also happens to be an Avenger and both of them are welcome here”

“You are making a mistake, Mrs. Potts, the Hulk is a menace and will not allow you to guard a potential world threat if I can stop it”

“A menace?” Pepper said, she took a step forward “Do I have to remind you, that it was you and the heads of SHIELD, the ones who authorized to detonate a nuclear bomb in this very own city, full of civilians instead of allowing the Avengers to do the job they were assembled to do?”

Ross tensed his jaw as he looked at Pepper.

“Your granddaughter is old enough to make her own decisions, General, you cannot decide over her life forever and just as I won’t allow you to lay a hand over Bruce, I will certainly not let you drag Mary out of this Complex if I can avoid it,” she took another step “And guess what, General? Be darn sure that I can and I will avoid it”

Her eyes flared up with the remains of the Extremis in her body, Tony and Helen and a few other brilliant minds had worked on finding a cure for Pepper and in the end they had, but that didn’t mean that Pepper had become a hundred percent free of Extremis and sometimes, a hint of the flaring colors could be seen behind her eyes.

“Are you threatening me, Mrs. Potts?” hissed Ross, and Maria took a step forward, warning him that Pepper was most certainly not alone.

“You can take it whatever way you want” Pepper spoke, her voice hadn’t changed a tone and her eyes were as icy as ever, a Tony smirked as he watched the scene almost as if Bruce and he weren’t present.

“Your husband cannot hide Banner forever” pointed out Ross, and for the first time since he had started talking to Pepper, he glanced at Tony and Bruce.

“You want to put that to a test?” asked Pepper, he turned back to her “Dr. Banner was exonerated for what happened in Harlem, may I remind you of that”

“Mr. Murdock certainly has a type of client” spat Ross.

“Your personal vendetta against Bruce, is not welcome here” Pepper tensed for a moment “Betty was a dear friend of ours, and I will not let your drag the man she loved over the mud and I will not allow you to manipulate Mary anymore, so I suggest you leave on your own behalf, before I ask security to escort you out of my property” she made a pause for a split second “The Avengers property”

“You are in dangerous ground, Mrs. Potts” Ross took a step forward.

“Are you sure about that?” asked Pepper, “That I’m the one in dangerous ground? If you’d like to take Bruce with you, I’d like to see you try and get to him before you have a group of SHIELD agents kicking you out, or better yet” she narrowed her eyes “You really think your granddaughter or the Hulk will allow you to get close enough to Bruce to drag him out by yourself?”

He opened his mouth “I’d chose my next words wisely if I were you, Ross” said Maria.

Ross looked at Pepper, the woman he’d always seen next to Tony, the CEO of SI, and he had to admit that she was a lot more than she appeared to be, but he wasn’t about to let her intimidate him, she was a simple woman, he was a general.

“Listen, Mrs. Potts” he snapped at her “I would be very careful if I were you”

“And I’d really take that threat back” Bruce spoke, he took a step forward and everyone turned to look at him “If you just as much as finish that sentence, General, I wont have to change a shade to get you out of here” Pepper smirked and turned to look at Ross.

“I think you got your answer” smiled Tony, his eyebrow raised and pride all over his body, this was his family, standing up for each other.

“I think you know the way out, General” said Maria, she took a step away so the General could leave “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out”

Ross was a word way from shaking with rage “And let this be the last time you dare come to my home and threaten my family” spoke Pepper.


	21. Fix What's Broke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shane is amazing, Howard offers to deliver news and Tony ignores a pain.

The twins, plus Mary and Damara had made it to the kitchen as Pepper was pushing open the door of the waiting room; Tatiana had busied herself with a kettle to make Tea and Damara and Shane were sitting over the kitchen island watching her, the Nose girl was eating a donut from the fresh box that lay over the island.

Shane glanced over his shoulder, at the back of the kitchen, in the small living area, Mary was sitting over the sofa, her leg pulled up to her chest and her eyes lost as she stared into the horizon, her thumb between her teeth as she sat by herself.

Damara glanced over her shoulder too, she looked at the young woman for a moment before she turned back to Shane; the Barton boy tore his eyes away from Mary and turned to look at Damara, silence ruled the kitchen before the Norse girl shrugged and turned back to looking at Tatiana making the tea.

“That smells nice” Damara said, holding the last remains of the donut between her fingers.

“I know, right?” Tatiana answered, anything about the small talk that could get her mind away from thinking about her parents.

Shane hesitated for a few seconds, tapping his fingers over his knee and furrowing his brow before he decided to push himself off the kitchen island; Tatiana turned around to look at him, her training had her alert to any kind of movement.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“No” he answered “I’m just gonna go check on Mary” he explained, he pointed back to the living area with his thumb and Tatiana looked over his head before she turned to look at him.

“Ok” she whispered, Damara watching from her place over the kitchen island, she thought Mary was nice, but she wasn’t sure what she could say to make her feel less anxious, so Damara had decided to stay back and wait until Mary was feeling better to ask her about it; apparently Shane had a better idea.

Damara glanced from one twin to the other, they had this aura that reminded her of Natasha and Clint, but if she hadn’t known from before and the files of SHIELD; she would have never guessed they were twins; Shane gave Tatiana one last nod and turned around to walk towards the small living area.

Shane had seen the distress in Mary’s eyes when she had heard Jarvis say that Ross was in the building, her skin had turned back to its normal color but when they had been heading to the kitchen he had noticed the green tint in her eyes.

The young man approached the sofa where Mary was sitting, he cleared his throat softly and the young woman glanced at him lazily, her thumb still between her teeth; she looked up at him, her eyes big and shining and the green was in them. Shane gave her a small smile as he looked down at her, balancing himself over his feet before he decided to sit down next to the young woman.

“Hey” he said, leaning back on the sofa.

Mary looked at him for a few seconds “Hi” she answered softly, her throat felt like she had swallowed glass.

“You ok?” he asked.

Mary opened her mouth, she wanted to answer that she was, but she was holding her hands tightly over her lap; she closed her mouth and decided to just shake her head, she wasn’t sure if she could trust her words.

“Your dad is gonna be fine” he said, he leaned forward over his knees “You know that right?”

“This is my fault” she blurt out, and that was the exact reason why she had been hesitant about talking.

“What?” he whispered, frowning as he looked at her “How can this be your fault, Banner?”

She looked at him, her eyes big but her face worried and Shane felt a pang in his chest with the realization that she might break out and start crying; he pushed himself up from his elbows and looked at her.

“I shouldn’t have come” she answered “I should have kept my word and he would have stayed away from my dad” she tugged at her fingers painfully “It worked for a long time, I… I could have kept on doing it”

“Mary” he interrupted her, his right hand reaching out and landing over her entwined hands as she tugged at her fingers, which were now turning into a light shade of green “What are you talking about? This is not on you”

“Yes” she hissed, forgetting that Tatiana and Damara where there too, she leaned a bit towards Shane “You don’t get it, he said he would stay away from my dad if I stayed at the base, if I stayed with him” she released her hands and her left one wrapped around his hand without tearing her eyes away from his “But I didn’t stay, I came over here, I forgot about everything the instant Melinda said my dad was on the plane” she gulped “I broke my promise, I broke it” she gave his hand a light squeeze “And that’s why he’s here”

“ _What the fuck?!”_ Shane barked in his mind, his brain not being able to process the fact that Ross had been blackmailing Mary.

“Listen to me” said Shane, he moved closer to her “This is not on you, this will never be your fault” her lower lip trembled and his other hand reached out to hold her left hand between both his hands “Your dad went to trial, he was exonerated, Matt Murdock made sure of that” she swallowed hard “Ross is a sick bastard, but you know he wont be able to get Bruce out of this Complex” he gave her a soft smile “Tony would never allow that, neither would Thor or any of us”

“I…

“And you” he squeezed her hands “You think we’d let him take you?” she looked down at her lap and a clear tear rolled down her face. “Ross can’t play with you like that, Bruce is your dad and if you want to see him, who the fuck is Ross to say you can’t?” she smiled bitterly and looked up at Shane.

“I just wanted to protect my dad” she whispered, “After my mom died, grandpa was so determined into blaming my dad for it, and I thought that maybe if I stayed with him, then my dad would be safe, he wouldn’t have to stress out about being chased and accused”

And Shane felt even more anger as he heard her speak, Ross didn’t really care about Bruce, he just wanted to manipulate Mary and he was doing it in the vilest way ever and that couldn’t be forgiven.

“Your dad is safe here” he spoke instead, her shoulders slumped, almost as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders “And so are you, Banner” he gave her a wider smile “You think we’d let you leave after today?”

Mary arched an eyebrow but her lips twisted up in a soft smile.

“You dove without thinking it, into the line of fire to help Victoria” Shane explained “No hesitation, no doubt” he shrugged, his left hand releasing her hand “You’re an Avenger, Mary”

A light blush spread over her face and the green in her eyes vanished, Shane smiled and squeezed her hand before he let go of her.

“Now,” he glanced back at his sister and Damara, just in time to catch both girls snapping their necks and pretending not to be looking at Mary and Shane, he rolled his eyes and turned to Mary “Let’s get some tea and donuts before we pass out from starvation”

“Agreed” she nodded at him.

 

___________//____________

 

Tony looked down at the tablet he was holding in his hands, less than ten minutes ago his wife had effortlessly gotten Ross to leave the Complex, he had been on his way to talk to Fury about his decision when Howard had come out of the elevator, the tablet in his hands and a worried look on his face.

“We need to talk” Howard said, and Tony knew everything had just gone to hell.

And now he was standing next to his son, looking down at the screen and feeling his heart clench in his chest, his left hand reached out and he rubbed his chest as he kept looking at the looping video.

It showed Tory down at the holding cell, her head was moving and he could see Loki walking around the cell but there was no audio, and he knew why.

“She tricked the Complex” Tony whispered as he handed the tablet back to Howard “Like Rhodey taught her too”

“I know” answered Howard, that meant that they had lost the audio on the conversation between his daughter and Loki and that made everything so much worse. “What happens now, dad?”

Tony passed a hand over his face, he felt emotionally drained, one of his best friends was dying, the Complex was no longer safe for his wife, two of his other best friends had gone rogue and now his daughter had thrown everything out the window.

No.

Now his daughter had taken her side in this battle, and it wasn’t the same one he was standing on.

“This is from the conversation they had today, right?” Tony finally spoke.

“Yes” nodded Howard “The one where he apparently told her that he didn’t know where Nat and Clint were”

“Right” Tony sighed, this was painful and not only in a moral way, he felt pain through his body. “Ok” he looked at Howard “She’s gotten enough time to think about what to say”

“Dad” said Howard, he reached out and placed his hand over Tony’s shoulder, and for an instant, Tony felt like he might cry. “I can talk to her”

“No, its fine” Tony shook his head.

“Listen to me” said Howard, he gave Tony a sad smile “Let me talk to her, I know what you’re thinking, its what everyone is thinking and maybe if I’m the one who talks to her, she wont react as if it were someone else”

Tony looked at him, he knew that most of the times Howard was the one person to get across Tory the best, of course not counting Rhodey, and even if he felt like this was something he had to do, Tony also felt like he was stretching himself too thin, like his mind couldn’t take it anymore.

“You’re right” he answered.

“You can stay in the living room, I’ll talk to her and let you know how it goes” Howard nodded, Tony gave him a weak smile in return.

But Howard had no idea the emotional rollercoaster he was about to get into.

The Stark men stood inside the elevator in silence, Howard had checked with Jarvis to see where the rest of the Avengers were stationed and he was glad to see that the young Avengers were in the kitchen while Bruce, Helen and Thor were at the lab.

The doors beeped open and they stepped outside, the living area was deserted, just Tatiana’s tablet over the coffee table as Tony made his way towards the sofa to hover around the place until Howard was done talking to Tory.

“ _I’m a coward_ ” he thought “ _I’ve been Iron Man for years and I can’t face my own daughter”_

But it wasn’t his daughter what he couldn’t face, it was the disappointment that was about to be delivered to Tory.

 

___________//____________

 

Howard hesitated in front of Tory’s door, his ears trying to get any kind of noise from the other side, he swallowed hard; this wasn’t the first time he stood behind the door hesitating on knocking, it had happened after the accident for several months, but right now it was nothing like the accident.

This was Tory’s fault.

And so, with a deep breath, Howard knocked on the door twice, his heart accelerating in his chest as he waited for an answer.

Tory scrambled off her bed as soon as she heard the knock on her door, she had made a plan, after being alone for such a long time, she had managed to string along an explanation, to make up a plan that would attempt to fix this; she just had to deliver it, she just had to make it believable.

Her right hand wrapped around the doorknob and she pulled the door open, taking a surprised step back and frowning slightly when she saw her brother at the other side of the door and not her father.

“Howard” she said, her mind rearranging the plan now that Howard was here and not Tony.

“Hey” he nodded as he looked at her, she was taller than most of the girls in the new team, but he was still a bit taller than she was. “Can I come in?”

“Sure” she took her hand off the doorknob and stepped back into the room, she crossed her arms over her chest and waited as Howard closed the door and looked at her. “Howard, I know this is bad”

“Tory” he sighed, he set the tablet on the nearest surface “Look, listen to me…

“Howie please” she gasped, dropping her arms to her sides “They trust you” he frowned as he looked at her, Tory took a step towards him, her eyes huge and shining and expectant of him. “If you let me explain then you can talk to them”

“ _Oh no”_ he whispered in his mind. “Vic,” he whined, and suddenly he wished Tony had been talking to her instead, she reached out and took his hands in hers, stepping as close as she could to him.

“Howie, they trust you, if you let me explain, you’ll understand!” she whispered with frenzy, she squeezed his hands. “You’ll be so proud”

“ _Oh god no”_ he screamed in his mind as he felt his heart drop to his stomach. “I’ve always been proud of you, Vic” he tried to reassure her, “But you need to listen to me”

“Not like this, you haven’t” she explained, “If you talk to them, then maybe they’ll understand and maybe they’ll listen to me!” she searched his eyes with anxiousness as he looked down at her “You just need to trust me”

“Tory, its not that simple” he said, forcing his mind to control itself.

“It is!” she took a step back, hope bubbling out of her body “Please, just listen to me, everything will be fine, you just need to trust me and…

“I don’t trust you” he blurt out loud and clear.

Tory’s sentence was shattered with force as she looked at him for an instant before her hands were ripped away from his, almost as if his skin was made of acid.

“What?” she whispered, her hands entwining over her chest.

“I don’t trust you” he said again “Not when you are like this”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” she snapped, her face changing so fast that Howard wasn’t sure the hope in her eyes had been there at all.

Her eyes had hardened in second, her smile had dropped and the tone in her voice could freeze continents, but the way her body recoiled away from him had to be the hardest of it all.

“Tory,” he sighed, “You know what I’m talking about, you can’t ask me to talk to them on your behalf when you have done nothing but lie to us” he made a pause “To all of us”

“But I’m not lying now” she said “We need to talk to him” she explained “He’s the only one who knows what to do and you are acting like he isn’t even here!”

“You can’t trust him!” Howard hissed, his eyes hardening as well.

“Why not?!” she attacked back.

“He’s a criminal, he’s tried to kill dad and the Avengers before, he’s tried to kill Thor countless times and you are making the rational decision to trust him?” he tensed his neck “How is that even logical, Victoria?!” her eyes widened as she looked at him “What is the matter with you? You’re one of the smartest people in the world and you let this maniac manipulate you like this?”

“He’s not lying” she said, and the way her voice had remained steady shocked Howard. “He didn’t do this”

“I came here on behalf of everyone” Howard ignored her statement, he took a step forward but Tory took a step back and away from him, Howard tried to hide the hurt in his eyes but Tory wouldn’t have cared even if she had seen it. “A decision has been made”

“If you don’t want me talking to him, I get it, but it’s not wise, Howard, its…

“Fury” he spoke over her voice “And the rest of the team, believes that maybe this is too hard, too soon”

“For what?”

“For you”

“Excuse me?”

“Maybe this was too rushed and we think that maybe you sit this one out, Tory” the words were coming out of his mouth without control “Maybe just for this one, you should stay by the margin”

Tory looked at him for a few seconds, the brother she had lied endlessly to protect, the brother who had always been there for her, the brother who had come to her rescue the night of the accident; and then her eyes hardened and she shut him out and anger set in.

“Are you kicking me out of the Avengers?” she spat.

Howard looked at her, the golden hair and dark eyes staring back at him, the girl he had loved since she had been born, his best friend, the girl he had always trusted, that girl was gone and Howard didn’t know what he had to do to bring her back.

“No” he answered “But we think that maybe you shouldn’t be involved in this case” he explained “You are too compromised”

“What kind of fuckery is that?!” she spat, she took a step forward, she pressed her index on her chest “I’m too involved?” she pointed at him “What about the Bartons and the Rogers? Huh? What about them? Aren’t they too involved?!”

“Tory!” he hissed.

“Shut up!” she spat back “You tell me, I’m too involved when they are the ones not sure if they are getting their parents back? I know Loki can help us! Why are you so goddam dense that you can’t see it? Are you that obtuse? That stupid?!”

“Enough!”

“Where is he?!” she screamed, pointing at her brother “Huh? You had to come and safe the fucking day didn’t you?” she stepped forward “The righteous Howard, I’m part of a team that decided to send you to tell me that I was no longer welcome?”

“That is not what I said, and you know it” he barked. “You want me to trust you but you cant trust our judgment as a team!” he hissed “How does that even work, Victoria? Could you just for a fucking moment get your head out of your ass and listen to me?!”

“Why can’t you trust me?!” she gasped, and for a moment, for a split second, Howard caught a glimpse of the hurt in her soul and it shattered his heart, it shattered his core and it left him speechless as she lashed out to him. “Why can’t you just believe me? Where is he? Huh? Is he too fucking busy to come and say it to my face that I am not up to the plate of becoming Iron Man? Answer me, asshole!”

“Don’t do this” Howard whispered as he looked at his sister, her face was red and flushed, her eyes were like wildfires and the venom in her voice was something he had never heard before “Don’t do this, Tory”

“Don’t act like you give two shits about what I’m saying” she heaved as she looked at him “If you came to tell me that I am no longer an Avenger, well message received, I’ll stay the fuck away from all of you” she stomped past him and towards the door.

Her hand reached out for the doorknob and she pulled it open just as she glanced back at her brother.

“Good luck talking to him” her grip around the knob hardened, she turned to the door to find Tony standing there, he looked pale and his eyes looked wide as he stared at her “I got your message, dad, don’t worry” she narrowed her eyes “You don’t have to worry about your crazy daughter fucking up your boyband anymore” she glanced at Howard “I don’t need you, or you” she added as she turned to Tony, “I don’t need anyone”

And with that she pushed her way past Tony and down the hallway, Howard’s heart was beating like a sledgehammer, this was the first time Tory had ever been this rude to anyone and to say that Howard was shocked was an understatement; his eyes turned to his dad, and the pieces of his heart broke even more.

Tony was staring at the wall directly in front of him, his jaw tense and his eyes shining, this wasn't his child, Tory had never been like this and he couldn't help but think that maybe he had rushed her into becoming an Avenger, he had seen the anger and hurt in her eyes and he wondered if she had seen the hurt behind his own eyes; he blinked and looked away just as a single tear rushed down his face; Tony looked away from his son and cleaned his tear rapidly, clearing his throat before he spoke.

“I’ll talk to Fury about this” Howard nodded “I’m sorry that I put you in this position, I should have been the one to talk to her”

“It’s ok dad” Howard spoke.

“No, its not” said Tony, a sad smile forming over his face as he turned away from Howard and walked out of the room.

One of his best friends was dying, two of his best friends had tried to kill them, the Complex couldn’t protect Pepper anymore, there was a maniac locked up in the basement and now his daughter had snapped and Tony didn’t even know where to begin to fix all of this; so he walked down the hallway towards the elevator as his left hand rubbed his chest with force, his mind also trying to ignore the strange way his heart was beating.


	22. The Secret is Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Howard and Amanda face off.

Howard stepped out of the elevator, the tablet in his hands and his heart shattered in his chest, he’d seen his sister lash out before, but she had done it out of anxiety and stress, this was different, the way her eyes had pleaded at him to believe her, the way she had wanted him to be proud of him; the way he had been forced to shut her out because despite his love to her, Tory had turned into a threat.

Down the hallway he could hear the voices of the young Avengers and he felt his throat close on itself, choking him painfully, he opened his mouth and took a deep breath before he turned on his heels and hurried towards the staircase; he needed a moment, a moment to face the rest of the team and tell them the news that was probably something they would have been expecting to happen sooner or later.

He hurried down a few steps and pressed his back against the wall, closing his eyes tightly before he slowly dropped down and sat over the stair; the pressure he was feeling at the moment was something he hadn’t felt before, not when he had attended his first SI meeting, not even the night everything had gone to shit and Tory had had the accident; he felt like he had hurt beyond repair the only person he couldn’t imagine his life without.

“Oh god” he whispered, his right hand shot up, he pushed his glasses over his head and he covered his eyes with his hand.

He sucked in air through his mouth as he tried to force his brain to settle but he could hear her words so loud and clear, and he was sure they had tattooed themselves to his brain.

 _“You’ll be so proud”_ the words echoed in his brain.

And Howard couldn’t understand why she thought he wasn’t already proud of her, she was brilliant and fierce and fearless and had he never told her? Had he never let her know how much she meant to him? That he would always be proud of her? That she was his sister and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her?

“Fuck, Tory” he mumbled, and he felt his throat itch and his lower lip tremble and he couldn’t do this right now, he couldn’t crash and burn, not when Steve was still injured, not when Nat and Clint were messed up and not when they still had Loki to battle. “Ok, Howard” he whispered into the empty staircase “You can do this, you’ve survived worse”

But the hate in Tory’s eyes had been the worse he had yet to come across.

“Get up, go tell them and then figure out how to help Nat and Clint” he ordered himself, he had to get things going, if they stopped now everyone would end up crashing and burning.

He took a deep breath and uncovered his face, passing both his hands over this cheeks to clean any tear that could have rushed down his face, and with that, he pushed himself up and turned to walk back up the stairs to meet with the rest of the team as Tony was heading to talk to Fury about Tory before he went to tell Pepper the decision that had been made about her and Maria.

Tatiana was the first one to look over her shoulder as Howard walked into the kitchen and the way his light eyes seemed darker told her that something wrong had happened; she frowned and turned to look at him; she was sitting with the rest of the group at the small living area in the kitchen.

“Hey” she said, her hair had been pulled back into a bun and her legs were up to her chest.

Howard looked at her before his eyes scanned the rest of the faces, he gulped and wondered how on earth was it harder to talk to them that it was to talk to the SI chairmen; but despite it all, Howard made his way towards the group to deliver the news.

“Is everything alright?” asked Amanda, she frowned as Howard approached them.

“Um, no” he answered, he cleared his throat and looked down at the tablet, almost as if the object could give him the answers he needed, the answers he wanted.

“What happened?” asked Ben.

“Is it Tory?” asked Damara, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes locked over Howard, the Stark boy looked up at her.

“Yes, of course its about her”

“Did she say anything about Loki?” asked Amanda, Howard made an effort not to cringe because he was trying to understand that Amanda wanted answers about Steve’s condition.

“No” he answered “She did however repeat that she believes him” he swallowed hard, his throat felt like he had swallowed glass shards “That she believes he is innocent”

“That’s insane,” said Mary “She saw him, he burned her suit”

“I know” said Howard “So, I talked to her, tried to tell her about our point of view, why we believe Loki is behind all of this”

“What did she say?” asked Shane.

“I’d love to tell you” and Tatiana could see the hurt dripping out of Howard “But we didn’t get that far into the conversation before I delivered her the news that I am sure you will all agree too”

“What news?” asked Tatiana.

“Tory has been asked to sit this mission out” Howard finally said “That maybe its best for her if she doesn’t get involved anymore”

The silence fell in the room, everyone looking at Howard and although there was relief there was also the knowledge that this was tearing Howard in half.

“I’m sorry you had to tell her that” Mary finally said “I really am”

“It’s ok” he shrugged “It had to be done, and better me than anyone else”

“That’s true” whispered Mary, she gave him a sad smile.

“Well, its for the best right?” said Amanda, Ben turned to look at her.

“Don’t” he whispered to her, because he knew his sister sometimes allowed her emotions to talk to her and he knew very well that Amanda was pissed beyond control at Tory

“She wasn’t being very reliable” said Amanda.

“She’s had her moments” said Howard, defense mode kicking in and Damara could sense that this wasn’t going to end well.

“She did find out about the tape where mom spoke” pointed out Shane, “But if this is the best for her, then so be it”

“This is the best for the team” said Amanda as she turned to look at Shane “She became unreliable”

“This is hard for her” said Howard “She doesn’t do well with others”

“She doesn’t do well when told what to do, is what you mean” said Amanda as she looked at Howard “She’s followed just about none of the rules we’ve laid out”

“Talking to Loki was the only rule she broke” snapped Howard.

“And that’s not enough for you?” Amanda spat back, she leaned over her knees “He’s tried to kill everyone before and she just waltzed down there and befriended him”

“I wouldn’t say befriend” Howard hissed, he took a step forward “She talked to him twice, he isn’t her friend”

“Does she know that?” Amanda continued.

“Amanda” barked Ben, but the argument was just starting.

“She made a mistake!” barked Howard “She is out of the team now, leave her alone”

“She didn’t make a mistake!” Amanda attacked back “She is reckless and inconsiderate and I don’t think she should be given the chance to come back to the team”

“Excuse me?!” Howard gasped, Amanda pushed herself up to her feet and Tatiana followed her closely. “Just one mistake and she is out of the team? Just like that?”

“Just like that” snapped Amanda, she took a step closer “She befriended Loki now, what’s next? Huh? Not even you know what she is capable of, she could be the next Dr. Doom for all we know”

Howard’s eyes widened as he looked at Amanda, Ben pushed himself up quickly “And what exactly would that make you? The next Captain America? You don’t even know how to lead a group!”

“Howard” said Tatiana.

“All you do is bark at Tory and hiss and impose!” Howard could feel the cracks in his shell start to widen, start to give in “My sister isn’t here to defend herself, I will not let you drag her out like that”

“She is reckless, Howard, you know that” said Amanda “You can’t cover the sun with a finger,” Amanda took a step forward and as soon as the words slipped out of her mouth, Ben knew she had fucked up. “She doesn’t listen to anyone, the car accident should have been a wake up call and yet here we are!”

And Howard lost all the color on his face as Damara, Shane and Mary scrambled up to their feet, Tatiana took a step towards Howard as she noticed the way his free hand curled up in a ball and before they knew it, Howard lost his chill.

“SHUT UP!” he roared, with a swift movement he threw the tablet to his side, the object hitting the floor so hard, the screen cracked and the tablet broke “I will not allow this! You will not talk about my sister like you know her!”

“Am I lying?!” Amanda tried to defend herself “Was she not reckless? She should have learned something out of that!”

And even then, Amanda knew she had taken it too far.

“You want to learn something?!” he screamed “We had to learn how to stop a panic attack in the middle of the night!” he took a step towards Amanda “We had to learn what music to play and what not to, what food to serve and what would make her throw up just by its name!” and Tatiana noticed with horror the tears forming in his eyes as he took another menacing step towards Amanda, pointing at her with rage “She didn’t leave the house for three fucking months! She cried all the time, she couldn’t sleep and if she did, she woke up screaming! You tell me she wasn’t brave enough to rebuild herself from that!”

“Howard” whispered Tatiana, Amanda’s eyes wide and regret all over her.

“I’d like to see you fucking try to do that!” he pointed at her with rage as his body shook “I will not allow you to come to MY house and treat my sister like she is shit! She is one of the smartest people on the world, she already regrets what happened to have you come here and throw it up all over her face, because excuse me, but who the fuck are you?!” another step and Tatiana decided that if he took another, she would have to step in.

Amanda had paled up and the other Avengers had lost the ability to speak because no one had ever imagined that this could happen, that Howard could be set off like this; but then again, they should have guessed it.

“You can say whatever you want” Amanda whispered, her voice had lost its strength “But a girl did die that night”

“Her name was Leia Ford!” snapped Howard “Don’t act like you don’t know her name, I know you’ve dug up all you could from my sister’s life!”

Amanda swallowed, and Tatiana couldn’t let this go on.

“Stop” said Tatiana, Howard’s eyes drifted to hers. “She’s right your sister was reckless that night, and Leia was a consequence of that”

Howard looked at her and the warm eyes that had brought her tea were gone, steal cold eyes had set in and Tatiana forced herself not to step away.

“If any of you had asked before you all schemed about this” he hissed at Tatiana “You would have known that Leia didn’t die because my sister was reckless” he glared at Amanda over Tatiana’s shoulder “You think she was reckless because Tory was driving? Well newsflash, you know shit about that night” he turned to Tatiana “Maybe you should have asked your mother” he turned back to Amanda “And you should have asked Steve”

“Excuse me?” snapped Ben, he was standing next to his sister.

“Oh, I’m sorry” Howard mocked “I thought you knew all about that night, I mean you are talking like you were there” he said to Amanda “I mean, I thought you knew your dad was the first person to get to the accident site”

“What?” whispered Amanda.

“Huh” Howard cocked his head to the left, “It feels like shit doesn’t it?” he narrowed his eyes “When you’ve been left out of everything”

“What are you talking about?” asked Shane “What does my mom have to do with Tory’s car crash?”

Howard turned to Shane “My sister wasn’t driving the fucking car, you dense ass” he barked “Leia was, Leia crashed the car, Tory just asked your mom and Steve to tell SHIELD she had been driving because she was the one who took the car out, she was the one who hacked SHIELD to get the car to shut down the tracking device”

Amanda’s jaw dropped and Tatiana’s eyes widened.

“Surprise bitch” Howard shrugged, the anger draining from him, and now all he could feel was pain “She wasn’t reckless, she just took the blame”

“Why take the blame, Leia died on impact” said Tatiana softly.

“Because she was her best friend” answered Howard, he gulped as he felt the tears starting to form again. “The only friend she had, how would you feel if you had survived and your friend hadn’t?”

“Howard” whispered Amanda “Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t know”

“Is that supposed to change anything?” asked Howard, he shrugged as he looked at Amanda “You don’t know how she felt, you didn’t see her cry or scream, you didn’t see shit, you didn’t know shit, and you still don’t know” his voice was back to normal, but there was a wavering tone in it that threatened to come with tears “Your parents did, and maybe only Nat and Steve know about the cover up, but even if Tory had been the one driving, you don’t get to come to MY house, to HER house and treat her like she’s worth nothing” he curled his hands into fists “You people have never been here before, or talked to her, you don’t know her, you didn’t even try to know her because you thought she had crashed the car, what the fuck is that bullshit?” with a rapid movement he pulled his glasses off his face, he covered his eyes with his free hand because he could hear her loud and clear.

 _“You’ll be so proud”_ he opened his mouth to breath.

“Howard” whispered Tatiana, she reached out to him.

“Don’t touch me” he whispered, turning his body before he uncovered his face and looked at the group “I’m gonna go wash my face, I’ll be back in a few”

And with that he turned on his heels and walked away, his long legs taking him fast.

Amanda watched him go before she looked down at her feet, she closed her eyes with horror, her parents had taught her better than to judge someone like she had done, and not only had she been wrong about Tory, she had hurt Howard and she had to make this better.

“Shit” said Shane.

And everyone silently agreed as they dropped back over the sofas, Steve was still injured, Nat and Clint were possessed, Loki was still hiding secrets and now they had officially lost Victoria Stark from the group.

And all Howard could hear were her desperate words.

_“You’ll be so proud”_


	23. The Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amanda has a talk, Tony delivers news, Loki thinks of a plan

The Complex remained silent for the first couple of hours after the sun set, the day had been tough and chaotic, Clint and Natasha where alive but they weren’t well and Tory had been kicked out of the team after making shocking revelations on where her loyalties stood, and now Howard was sitting over the edge of his bed, looking down at his phone; it had been half an hour since he had blurt out the secret he had sworn to keep, a secret he had kept for almost two years and now the cat was out of the bag and it didn’t make him feel any better.

_Are you there?_

Read the text he had sent out the second he had gotten back to his room, it had been read almost a few minutes after being received and he knew that was all he was going to get: the cold treatment that only Tory could manage to make him hurt.

He swallowed hard and locked his phone, there was no use, he knew that better than anyone, he closed his eyes and dropped the phone over the bed before he dropped back and covered his face with his left arm.

Somehow he had never felt more at peace with a role he had to play, becoming part of the New Avengers gave him a rush he had never gotten out of anything and the way he felt like he had simply molded himself to the new members of the team had only made it better; but how good was he supposed to feel about his new team when he was losing the team he had always been part of?

The New Avengers or Tory?

That was the decision he had thought he would have to end up making, unfortunately, Tory had made that decision herself.

Loki or them?

And Tory had chosen Loki.

Howard clenched his teeth just as a soft knock echoed across his room, the young man frowned and uncovered his face.

“Jarvis?” he asked.

“It’s Amanda Rogers” answered the AI.

Howard turned to look at the door and pushed himself up to a sitting position, he could still recall the harsh words that had been exchanged with Amanda just half an hour ago, and despite everything in him screaming at him not to open the door, he decided against it.

“Let her in”

He stood up and the door swung open to reveal Amanda standing behind it; her wavy hair was pulled back but her intense blue eyes were over him the second the door exposed him to her.

“Come in” he said, his voice sounding nothing like it had the last time they had spoken.

“Thank you” Amanda nodded, she stepped into the room, her hands tangled up with each other as she looked around, “Nice room”

“Thanks” he said, watching as she looked at the Rugby ball he had over one of the shelves.

“You play Rugby?” she asked, turning to look at him.

“I like to watch it, I used to play Baseball, though”

“Where you good at it?”

“Yes” he nodded, a small smile appearing over his face.

Amanda swallowed hard, this wasn’t as easy as anyone would have expected, she bit her lower lip as she glanced back at the ball and then turned to look at Howard.

“I want to talk to you about what happened just now” she finally spoke.

“You don’t have too” said Howard “I understand”

“No you don’t” she shook her head “I’m sorry, Howard” she sighed, her words sincere, she took a step forward “I got carried away and I said things without thinking them and that was wrong, I didn’t know what had happened with Tory” Howard opened his mouth but Amanda cut him before he could start “But you are right, even if I had been right, I had no place in being the way I was with her and with you, and I want you to know that I am really sorry for everything I did”

“I know Tory fucked up” he said when Amanda stopped to get some air “I wont defend her about that, there is nothing that can excuse her behavior and I know that” he shrugged sadly “But I don’t think she did it out of spite and to enrage everyone” he sighed heavily “I just don’t know what she’s thinking anymore, and part of me is sure that she doesn’t know what she is doing or why”

“Maybe this is for the best” Amanda said, her words no longer harsh like they had been when the fight had started “She can sort her priorities and maybe then, maybe later she could come back, you know? When she’s better”

“When she’s better” whispered Howard, he looked at her, and as she looked back at him, she had the feeling that there was something else he wanted to say; something he wanted to add, but instead he simply nodded at her.

“I know I haven’t been the best person to deal with” she sighed and looked down at her hands “I just don’t have the ability to say things the right way, sometimes” she shrugged and looked at him “Most of the times according to everyone at SHIELD”

“Look,” Howard scratched his forehead lightly “We were all thrown into a very difficult situation and expected to act rationally when everything about this is insane, we don’t know each other and fitting in with other people isn’t easy, less of all when all of these things are happening” he gave her a soft smile as his arm dropped to his side “I know we are all running on fumes and I am sorry about the way I talked to you, we’ll get better at this, our parents did”

Amanda chuckled genuinely, the first time she had felt relief in her system since her father had showed up dying at their house and of all people in the Complex, it had been a Stark the one to make her laugh; and maybe her parents had been right, maybe the Starks were just the kind of people you had to get to know before you made a judgment.

“Yeah they did” she smiled at him.

“Then we can work it out” Howard nodded “I don’t see why we couldn’t”

“I am sorry” she nodded again, she needed him to know that, despite the fact that they had meet a few days ago, part of her knew that she needed this, she needed Howard’s support.

“Apology accepted” he nodded back at her “And I am sorry too”

She smiled back at him, maybe she wasn’t the only one who thought that the support of the rest was important.

 

___________//____________

 

Tony pushed the door of the master bedroom open, the lavender scent was soft but still very welcoming and the kind of smell that he associated with his wife, with his anchor, with the person he cared about the most.

The white walls of the room contrasted perfectly with the dashes of color here and there and the pop – art artwork of New York skyline that decorated almost an entire wall of the room; Pepper had been so excited to decorate the rooms with him, he could still hear her laugh when she had been picking colors for Howard’s nursery room, the way she had touched her belly, the way she had looked at him and the way she had told him she had never been happier.

How fast the night changes, right?

Tony found Pepper laying over the bed, her knees pointing up to the ceiling and a book over her lap, her hair was still up on a ponytail and her index and her thumb were tugging gently at her lower lip, a habit Tony had fallen in love with.

“Hey” he said, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

Pepper’s eyes jumped away from the book and landed over him instantly, her lip trapped between her fingers before she closed the book quickly and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

“Hi” she said, pushing herself up and walking up towards Tony, she had changed her elegant clothes for a pair a shorts and a white long sleeved shirt.

“I thought you’d be asleep by now” he said, shrugging and looking around the room.

“With all that’s been happening, who could sleep?” she pointed out “Are Nat and Clint alright?”

“We don’t know” sighed Tony, “Fury sent them down with Loki until we know they are not a threat” he swallowed hard “Tory was hurt by their attack as was Howie”

“I know” said Pepper, “I talked to Tory,”

“You did?” he asked, a bit surprised.

“Yes” she nodded “A bit after Ross left”

“She’s not ok” he said.

“No” she shook her head “She’s not” her hands rose up and she set them over his shoulders.

“She’s out of the team too”

“I know” Pepper nodded.

“I know” he chuckled bitterly “But I have other news” he tightened his jaw, his heart clenching in his chest and he wasn’t sure he could do this; he couldn’t lose this too.

“What is it?” her hands slid up and she cupped his face, he looked at her. “Talk to me”

“War is imminent, Pep,” he pulled his hands out of his pockets and set them over her hips, looking up a bit at her, “And I need to protect the one thing I can’t live without, and that’s you”

“Tony” she whispered.

“No, just listen to me please” he whispered back, she leaned her forehead against his, he closed his eyes as he felt his throat clench “I’ve talked to Rhodey and Maria and you will be heading to a secure location with him and Sam and Miles, tomorrow morning”

“Don’t do this, sweetheart”

“I can’t risk you being here” he whispered, unable to look at her “Not after what happened with Clint and Nat, the people I love are being compromised and I need to protect you and Maria, I promised Steve, I promised myself”

“Tony, I have Rescue, the suit is enough”

“No” he opened his eyes “It’s not,” he tightened his grip around her hips, anguish visible in his eyes “I need you to do this for me, Pepper, I need to know that you are safe, that you are away from all of this”

She looked at him, her eyes big and his eyes pleading, she swallowed hard and she cupped his face a bit harder because this wasn’t easy for her either; he was asking her to leave, to leave him, to leave their children, and yet she knew she had no place in this, not when he was right.

He pulled her up to him, pressing his head against the crook of her neck and breathing in the way she smelled of the remains of her perfume and that shampoo she loved so much and he felt the tears behind his eyelids; their daughter had lost her mind, their son was trying to fix everything, and he needed to know that his anchor would be ok.

Pepper closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around him, and if she could take all his pain, his hurt, his guilt and shame, Pepper wouldn’t have thought it twice; she gapped her lips to breathe in and leaned her head against the side of his.

“Ok” she whispered into the room. “I’ll kiss Miles for you”

“I swear to god woman,” chuckled Tony and Pepper could tell by the tone in his raspy voice that he was at his breaking point “If you could get that kid to live here, you’d be the happiest woman on earth”

“Well” she laughed, trying to soften the things in the room “Have you see those puppy eyes? Those cheeks?”

“I have puppy eyes!” he gasped, pulling away from her and looking up at her clear eyes, she looked down at him and rolled her eyes playfully.

“I love you” she said, giving him a soft kiss on the lips.

“You’re amazing” he whispered against her lips, because that was the way he had first told her he loved her, the words had balled up in his throat and he had choked, afraid that Pepper wouldn’t say it back.

 

___________//____________

 

Loki turned his head to the left, he was sitting over the small wannabe bed, his elbows propped over his knees; his green eyes landed over the new prisoners on the cell next to his, Nat and Clint had been brought down by Thor and now they sat in silence side by side, Clint occasionally glancing at Loki.

Clint had his head resting back against the wall, his eyes closed and his arms folded over his chest, he was breathing evenly but there were a few dark marks around his neck, too small to belong to Thor’s hands.

His green eyes danced towards Natasha, the woman looked paler than she usually was, her red hair framing her face and her eyes locked over him, and they were not the green color he remembered from the first time they had met, they were pitch black and Loki knew better than anyone what the darkness in her eyes was causing in her soul.

Lazily he turned to look at Clint, he had to admit that this was not bad handiwork, he hadn’t expected this, but he was surprised, he had seen better work, he himself could do a lot better, but the damage that that trick could cause was what surprised Loki.

 _“Interesting choice”_ he thought as Clint opened his eyes and looked at Loki.

Clint cocked his head to the left, a part of his brain telling him that he knew the man with the raven hair and the emerald eyes, the same voice that had screamed at him not to say what he had said to the blond girl when he had her pinned to the floor; he narrowed his eyes as they looked at each other, the voice in his brain becoming softer and softer and he wasn’t sure why.

“ _He’ll probably succumb first”_ thought Loki, “ _After what I did, he probably will”_ he looked away uninterested, but he could feel Clint and Natasha looking at him.

He turned to look out the crystal wall of his own cell, however this must end he knew he had to get out of there soon, he pushed himself up and walked towards the glass, he looked down the hallway, trying to assess the change in the situation; with Clint and Natasha there it would be complicated to talk to the girl, to continue with what they had agreed on.

Loki laced his hands behind his back, his brain going, as it usually did, a thousand miles an hour, different scenarios playing building up before he stumbled them down for a better one; he was in a complicated position, he knew that but he had been in worse positions before, and if there was something Loki knew was that he could get out of this one as well, he just had to figure out how.

But maybe, someone had figured out how before he had.

A soft whirling noise echoed in his cell, he raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder quick enough to catch as the metal plates of the floor slid back to their position; but now there was something in the cell with him.

Loki turned around on his heels, unlacing his hands from his back and strolling towards the item on the floor, Clit and Natasha suddenly very interested in what he was doing.

He crouched down and looked at the item, it was an old book, the cover had the words almost completely faded off and the spine had seen better days, his slender fingers picked up the book before pushing himself up to his feet, he walked towards the bed and sat down, ignoring the way Clint and Natasha stood up and walked towards the glass to get a better look at what he had just gotten.

He turned the book, examining it carefully before he sat it over his lap and opened the cover, _Dracula_ it read, he smirked and quirked an eyebrow, he couldn’t say it was a book he had fancied when he had come to Midgard years ago, but he couldn’t say it was a bad one either.

He flipped the pages mindlessly, before he stopped abruptly, between the pages of the old book rested a piece of paper folded in half, he reached for it and took it between his fingers before he unfolded it and looked down at the paper.

His lips twitched into a smile as soon as he was done reading the note, he folded the paper and closed the book; his eyes jumped up the crystal and just like that a green flame prickled between his fingers and the note burned and chirped and turned to ashes between his pale fingers as Natasha and Clint watched.

The words of the note engrave in Loki’s memory.

_Minor inconvenient, it’s still on, V. S._


	24. Saying Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria and Pepper must leave, Ben takes it hard, Damara has encouraging words, Fury has news and Tory no longer cares

No one would ever say that it was easy, with the whole Complex running on fumes the dreaded morning of the departure of Pepper and Maria arrived way to early and without much sleep from the team.

Pepper made her way down the stairs, she had changed her usual suits for a pair of jeans and flats and a lose shirt, her hair pulled back and her make up light; she stepped into the floor where her kids had their rooms and looked around the small living area, there was no one around, and she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

Still, Pepper made her way down the corridor towards the room of the youngest member of the Stark family, she sighed and came to a stop in front of the door, her heart beating in her chest because she didn’t want to go, she knew she shouldn’t be leaving, that despite her not knowing much about what it was to be an Avenger, she did know what it was to work the Complex, she knew how Tony got when he was overworked and she knew how hard Tory could be when she was offended, and right now, Pepper knew that her daughter was beyond that word.

She reached out and knocked over the surface of the door, that wooden T that Howard had made her when Tory was three was still hanging over the door; but Pepper wondered for how long.

Swiftly, the door opened up for her and Pepper stepped inside, she cringed internally as the disaster that Tory’s room was came into view; her desk was overflowing with papers, there were at least five different pairs of shoes scattered around that she could see and the chair of her desk was stacked with several sweaters, not to mention that the bed was poorly made, Pepper sighed just as the door of the bathroom opened up and Tory walked out.

“Mom” she smiled.

“Sweetie” Pepper smiled back at her “You’re up early”

“I know” she shrugged, “I was feeling hungry, I was just about to make my way to the kitchen”

Pepper looked at her, her eyes trying to figure out if she was lying, but that was a game that Tory almost always won, the way she cocked her head and smiled at Pepper seemed so genuine, but Pepper had seen Tory lie before and she had even been told by Natasha that Tory was a natural at it.

She wasn’t sure that was a compliment as much as Natasha thought.

“I’m sure you must know by now that Maria and I are leaving” explained Pepper.

“Yes” nodded Tory “You guys are going to stay with Rhodey, Sam and Miles”

“We are” Pepper pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and stepped closer to her daughter “I came to say goodbye”

Tory looked at her and something seemed to darken behind her eyes before she walked up to her mother and wrapped her arms around her waist and buried her face on the crock of her mother’s neck; Pepper instantly wrapping her arms around her child and holding her tight to her own body.

“Say hi to Rhodey and Sam” whispered Tory, Pepper only managed to nod, knowing that both men cared so much about these children “And kiss Miles for me, ok? Tell him I’ll have his present in no time”

Pepper chuckled, Miles was probably the only child that Tory had ever gotten along with, and despite Tory’s several antics, Miles seemed enamored with her.

“You know I will” whispered Pepper, her right hand shot up and landed on the back of Tory’s head, she rocked their bodies gently for a few seconds before she spoke again. “You are amazing, ok?”

Tory’s grip on her mother tightened for a moment, before she nodded against her neck “Be careful” she said to her mom before she pulled away.

“Call me, every day, Vic” her hands over Victoria’s shoulders.

“I will, I promise” she smiled at Pepper, Pepper looked at her, the way her hair was rolling down her shoulders, the way everyone said she looked so much like Pepper, yet Pepper had always thought she looked so much like Maria Stark; Tony had said once that she was the perfect mix of two amazing women.

“I love you” whispered Pepper.

“I love you too, mom” she nodded “Tell Maria we’ll find a way to help him” Tory leaned forward and planted a kiss on her mother’s cheek.

 

___________//____________

 

The group, minus Tory, gathered at the garage, Happy was there next to the designated car, because no matter how much Coulson and Melinda had insisted on using some SHIELD agent, Tony didn’t trust anyone more than he trusted Happy to drive his wife and Maria to Rhodey and Sam’s place.

Damara, the twins, Mary Thor and Bruce lingered behind, they had said their goodbyes before the rest, reassuring words for Maria about Steve and then they had stepped back to allow their families to say goodbye.

Pepper stepped towards Howard first, he smiled at her, his glasses were off but his clear eyes seemed bigger than ever, they smiled at each other for a few seconds, the two most rational members of the family; the organized chaos were Tony and Tory were simple and unapologetic chaos.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and he closed his eyes as his body slumped briefly, his mother was his strongest rock, she had always been and she would always be and right now even if he knew it wasn’t like that, it felt like he wasn’t going to see her again.

“Be careful, Howie” she whispered against his ear. “Please be careful sweetheart”

“I always am” he whispered back reassuringly. “We’ll be fine”

She held him tighter for a moment “Be strong, ok?” because it was unfair that he had to deal with everything, but if there was someone who could, then you were goddam right it was Howard James Stark.

“Call him when you get there” Howard whispered back before they broke their embrace “And tell Sam he still owes me that baseball match”

Pepper chuckled and nodded as she looked at him “I love you, Howard”

“I love you too, Pepper” he smiled and she gently gave him a kiss on the forehead before Howard stepped away and Pepper turned to Tony.

“Once you get there, you’ll all go to the safe house, Happy will be with you, ok?” Tony started to blurt out.

“Tony” her hand cupped his face and he stopped talking “I know darling, trust me”

“I trust you” he nodded at her, “Always”

“Everything will be fine” she smiled as she looked at his dark eyes “Everything will be fine, ok? You go and safe the world, Iron Man, you go safe Steve and Clint and Nat, Tony”

“I will” he nodded, trying his best to stop the tears “I will”

She smiled at him and pressed her lips into a thin line before hugging her husband “You’re amazing” she whispered to his ear as he held her close “You’re a great friend, and an Avenger” she kissed the side of his neck “And an amazing father, don’t forget that”

Tony closed his eyes, because at times he couldn’t help but fear that he was turning into his father when Howard Sr. had simply descended into his obsessions, Pepper kissed him again.

“I believe in you, Tony” she whispered, her words feathering against his skin before she broke away from him; she squeezed his hand and turned away walking towards the car because she couldn’t really do this right.

As Pepper stepped towards Howard, Maria pulled her daughter into a tight hug, her arms around her neck, breathing in the new shampoo her daughter wore; she closed her eyes and took a deep breath because she couldn’t break down again, she just couldn’t.

“I will call you every day, Amy, ok?”

“Yes, mom” whispered Amanda, because she was so close to tears.

“You be brave, Amanda, you be strong and you be good” Maria’s words were soft but strong “You can do this, you just need to believe you can”

“I will” Amanda choked on her words “You be safe mom”

“I’ll be with Sammy and Rhodey, no place safer than there” she smiled as she pulled away from her daughter, her hands cupped Amanda’s face “Be fearless, Amy”

And Amanda only managed to nod before she stepped away to give her brother a chance to say goodbye, she walked towards the rest of the group, standing next to Tatiana, and as she watched her mother and brother hug, she felt Tatiana’s soft fingers wrap around her hand and give her a soft and reassuring squeeze. Amanda looked down at their hands and then up at Tatiana, the red head turned to look at her and gave her a weak smile with teary eyes, they were in this together, they all were.

“We’ll be fine” Ben said to his mother as he held her, but she could hear the break in his voice.

“I know that” she whispered back to him “But I need you to be strong, no matter what, Ben, you do what you have to do” she pulled away from him “No one stays behind, ok? No one”

“No soldier is left behind” he nodded at his mother “I know mom”

Maria’s hands cupped his face and her thumbs cleaned the tears that streamed down silently “He’ll be so proud of both of you, Benny” she smiled at him “I am so proud of you” Ben smiled despite the tears “Be brave, Ben and take care”

“I always do” he answered, she nodded.

“I know, and take care of her”

“I will, mom” he answered.

And as Pepper walked away from Tony, Maria stepped forward and planted a gentle kiss over her son’s forehead before she let him go; Ben looked at her for a second before he looked down at his feet and cleaned his tears, just as Maria turned her attention to Tony.

“Safe trip, Maria” said Tony as he stepped towards her.

And Maria’s tears started to roll down her face as she looked at Tony, his face fell and he pulled her up to him.

“If there is anyone who can bring him back to me, to us, that’s you and Bruce” Maria said to Tony as she hugged him, trying her best to stop the tears “You are his best friend” she continued because she needed Tony to know this, to know the things Steve felt but would never say “And he is so proud to work next to you,” she pulled away from Tony “But you be careful, Tony, no matter what, be careful”

“I will bring him back to you, Maria” he said, he cleared his throat.

“No” she shook her head, cleaning her tears with both her hands “To us”

“To us” nodded Tony.

___________//____________

 

The goodbye was hard for everyone, and the energy around the Complex had turned sad and teary, but still the group forced itself back down to the lab, they had figured out a few things from the scriptures of the books, things that were also carved into the knives that they had found and right now, the best option they had was figure out the rest of the scripture before they could determine anything.

Of course they were not counting with what was yet to come.

Damara was curled on one of the sofas, an astronomy book on her hands, she had discovered a pattern with the stars and now, now she was pretty sure it had something to do with what was going on, she just had to figure what it was.

At the other end of the sofa, Ben had sat down, a book open in his lap and a cup of coffee in his hands, Damara glanced up at him for the third time since he had sat down, and he was still on the same page; her eyes darted down to her book before she closed her eyes for a split second and closed the book.

She set the book next to her and turned her body to face Ben’s, he didn’t even notice she turned until Damara spoke.

“Ben”

He looked up at her, surprise over his face “Hey”

She looked down at the book and then up at him “It’s gonna be fine”

“I know” he nodded.

“Do you?” she asked, he frowned “You’ve been on the same page since you sat down”

“Oh” he whispered and looked down at his book before he looked up at her, a soft blush over his face before he sighed.

“I’m sorry, I’m distracted”

“I know, I understand” she shrugged “Your mom will be calling any time now, I’m sure about that”

“Yeah” he whispered.

“You know,” she scooted closer to him “When my dad leaves to go back to Asgard” Ben turned his attention to her, Damara seemed like the most reserved person in the room and suddenly she seemed so willing to open up to him. “I always get this anxious feeling, you know?” he gave her a weak smile “Like it might be the last time I see him”

“I know” he sighed and looked down at her lap.

“When I was smaller I would cry for days” he looked up at her “I mean, why did he have to leave, you know? Why couldn’t he stay with me?” she shrugged “I started to understand later on, it wasn’t his fault, it just is what it is, he had to leave, he had that responsibility”

“You were his responsibility too” Ben pointed out.

“I still am, what are you talking about?” she joked softly, and he smiled at her, his eyes lighting up a bit. “Anyway, he did the best he could with the cards he was dealt with, Ben” she shrugged before she looked down at her wrist, there was a small gold chain around it. “He gave me this on my seventh birthday” she lifted her wrist so he could see it “Told me that every time he was safe back at Asgard, it would shine” she smiled fondly at it “And I’ve worn it ever since” she looked up at Ben “I don’t know if it actually does work like that,” she chuckled softly “But I want to believe it does” she looked down at her hand and swiftly, with the expertise that only Damara could have, she unclipped the chain and it dropped over her lap.

Ben frowned as he watched her take the bracelet off, she stuck the tip of her tongue for a brief second just before the bracelet fell over her lap and then she turned to look at him.

“Here you go” she said, extending the chain to him.

“What are you doing?” he asked, as he frowned deeper.

“Take the chain” she said simply, and when he didn’t move, she rolled her eyes and reached out to grab his wrist, she pulled his hand up to her gently and wrapped the chain around his wrist before clasping it on.

“What are you doing?” he asked again. “Your dad gave you this, this is probably worth the earth and more”

“Probably” she shrugged as she looked up at him, her face casual “You can give it back to me when Maria and Steve are safe” she shrugged “When it shines to let you know that you have nothing to fear, then you give it back to me, Rogers”

“Damara I can’t accept this” he whispered.

“Well,” she shrugged with a smirk on her face “You already have it on, so why not?”

Ben opened his mouth to argue, but closed it and looked down at the chain before he looked up at her, she was opening her book again, but this time not scooting back to her place; he looked at her for a moment before he smiled softly and turned back to his book, just as Shane and Mary walked back into the lab.

 

___________//____________

Shane and Mary had offered to go for a refill on the coffee and also get something to eat for the rest of the team, everyone had been running on fumes and now it seemed that they were all so close to snapping that Mary had been relieved when Shane had asked if she wanted to help him bring the coffee.

Of course the last thing they imagined as they walked into the kitchen was to run into a former member of the team.

Tory was standing next to the kitchen island, a tablet in her hands and her hair framing her face, Mary instantly remembering what Howard had told them about the accident and her heart constricted in her chest; she knew the pain of losing someone she loved, she had felt it after her mother had died, but having to be there when a loved one died tragically, that had to be something horrible.

Shane glanced at Mary briefly as they came into view, Tory not lifting her eyes from the tablet, she nibbled on her lower lip as she typed expertly on the screen, Jarvis the drone was sitting over the island where she had a cup of coffee and what seemed to be the remains of a donut.

“Hey” Shane dared to say first, Mary close to him and he was glad he didn’t go up there alone.

Tory lifted her eyes from the tablet, her dark eyes landing over the pair lazily and there was a split second of confusion over her face before she cocked her head to the left, her eyes gently narrowed, and it gave Shane the impression that Tory was seeing them for the first time.

Almost as if she had already forgotten about them.

Almost as if she no longer cared about all that had happened.

“Agents” she nodded at them, she turned to her mug and before she picked it up, she turned to Jarvis “Open up, big guy” and the drone simply seemed to open its belly and Tory pushed the plate with the donut inside and Jarvis closed it, she turned to her mug and picked it up, looking up at Shane and Mary.

“You just woke up?” Shane asked, it was still early in the morning, with Maria and Pepper leaving just about at six o’clock.

“Something like that” she shrugged, “Have a good day, Agent Barton, Agent Banner”

And with that she walked around the island, Jarvis floating behind her as she looked down at the tablet, walking without bumping into anything.

“So, when do you think it will be done?” they heard her say as she walked away.

“In two hours”

“Amazing” she continued “In no time will have the prototype ready then”

Mary looked at Shane, he glanced at her “I’m not even an Agent” she pointed out, and Shane chuckled as he shook his head.

The pair served coffee in the discarded mugs they had brought up and Mary gathered a few pastries and sandwiches on a tray just as Jarvis’ voice came through.

“Ms. Banner, Mr. Barton, Director Fury is heading down to the lab to meet with all of you”

“Thanks, Jarvis” smiled Mary as she turned to Shane “Ready to go?”

“Sure” he nodded.

And if it had been a slight shock to run into Tory, they had not expected the words that came out of Fury as he walked in the lab behind Shane and Mary.

“Avengers” he called out when Mary and Shane had set the trays over a near desk, everyone turned to look at him, frowns over Amanda’s and Howard’s faces.

“Director” said Tatiana.

“With all that has been happening since this started” explained Fury “And the recent departure of one of the members of the team, I believe the time has come for you to accept what is yet to come”

“Excuse me?” said Tatiana.

“Avengers” he continued “There is someone I’d like you to meet”

And just like that, the team that had lost a member gained a new one.


	25. Of Lights, and Calls and Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A flashback just to keep the suspense alive about the new member of the team for a few more hours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leia Ford and Victoria Stark go for a drive

Victoria sat on the dirt road, the wind ruffling her hair and her eyes closed as the night sounds engulfed her ears, next to her, Leia was resting her head over Victoria’s shoulder, tears rushing down her face, silently, her mascara rolling down her cheeks as her breathing slowly came back to normal.

“I’m sorry” Tory whispered into the night, the first words anyone had spoken since they had pulled over about ten minutes ago.

“Its ok” Leia answered, her voice was sticky and hoarse, Victoria opened her eyes, looking up instantly, the stars were decorating the sky and she wondered how their night had ended like this.

“Is it?” she asked back, she felt Leia lift her head.

“Everyone warned me about it” Leia sighed, defeat in her voice “I should have known better, you know?”

“This isn’t your fault” Tory said, she turned to look at her “Melissa is just an asshole,” she shrugged and glanced at the car; Leia looked at Tory, the way her words were always so gentle “If she can’t appreciate you, then fuck her” she turned to look at Leia, they had been best friend throughout high school and she was like a sister to her, and to see her this heartbroken, pained Tory.

Leia smiled bitterly, raising both of her hands to clean away her tears, “You’re right” she nodded.

“Of course I am” Tory shrugged “I’m a Stark” she chuckled and Leia rolled her eyes, she was probably one of the few people who could tolerate, accept and join in, into Tory’s dark and egotistical sense of humor; that’s why they had been best friends since forever, because Leia took no bullshit from Tory and Tory had given Leia the nerve to be who she wanted to be. “You wanna go back to the hotel?”

“No” Leia shook her head “Can we just drive a bit more?” she looked at the car, a beauty that Tory had hijacked from SHIELD, because tonight they were just a pair of young women, no Iron Man, no SHIELD, no Avengers, which was why Tory had bought a burned phone and had left her own behind at the hotel, Leia had done the same and she had watched amused as Tory had simply overridden the high tech of the car and had left it without a tracker or anything that could lead to SHIELD making a scene.

“Sure” nodded Tory, she pushed herself up, a grunt escaping her lips as she did so.

“Get in shape, dumbass” laughed Leia as she pushed herself up and shoved Tory, the blond stumbled to her side and attempted to throw a kick to Leia only to lose her balance and hit the car with her hip. “How are you even functional?!”

“Fuck off!” laughed Tory, she walked around the hood to get to the driver’s door, they had left the keys inside, seeing that they were on a road that seemed incredibly lonely.

“Wait!” Leia called, Tory glanced at her over her shoulder “Can I drive? Just for a while, then you can drive us back to the hotel”

Tory rolled her eyes but nodded, she wasn’t bothered about Leia driving, she just knew that her friend had left her license at home and the last thing she needed right now was yet another ticket.

“Sure” Tory shrugged, she opened the door and walked around the car as Leia hurried towards the driver’s door, an excited smile over her face as Tory grabbed the handle of the passenger’s door and pulled it open.

Tory rolled down the window as they went down the road, the wind rushing into the car, chilly and a bit humid, the blond propped her elbow over the window frame and took a deep breath as the car took a turn, the music was blasting on the radio, but over the sound of the rushing wind she could barely hear it.

The car skidded for a brief second, Tory pulled her head away from her hand and glanced at Leia, they were going fast, Leia glanced at her, a smile over her face and the strands of hair that had flopped off her hair buns were swaying with the wind and for a split second, for a brief moment that would forever be tattooed to Tory’s mind, Leia looked careless and happy, the smile over her face was like nothing Tory had ever seen on her friend and she couldn’t help but smile back at her, just before she turned her eyes back to the road and everything changed.

Tory turned to the road first, and just as Leia did the curve came into view, but it was too late; Tory’s body reacted before her mind could, she shifted on her seat, both her arms rising up to her face as Leia threw the steering wheel to the left, but the car skidded.

And before they knew it, the car jumped off the dirt road, flying directly towards a group of trees, and the music was blasting in the car as the passenger’s side was slammed against the first tree, the window exploding into a million diamonds, screams that would never be remembered echoed in the night as the car bounced downhill and the driver’s side hit another solid tree before they came to a stop as the hood destroyed itself against a pair of trees.

Tory would never remember the way her body jerked forward and then back with the force of the seatbelt, but she would have the scar over her eyebrow from when her head turned and she hit the side of it with the window frame and more pieces of glass embedded themselves into her skin.

And then, then there was silence.

The shapes came incredibly distorted and the colors came in blurs, the strange buzzing sound was dull but way to close to her, she felt her head roll to the side as her eyes closed before they opened again a few minutes later; this time the shapes came a bit stronger, she was staring right ahead, lights illuminating something shiny ahead of her and for a moment Tory wasn’t sure where she was.

A groan escaped her lips as she frowned, the buzzing in her head seemed louder, but still she narrowed her eyes, trying to force her brain to focus; it was then that she noticed the lights were illuminating a pair of trees.

“What?” she slurred, she squinted trying to figure out where she was. “What?” she turned her head to the window, her eyes adjusting to the road away from them and panic shot through her. “No, no, no” her head snapped towards the driver, her neck hissing in pain as she did. “Leia!” she croaked, her hand reached out to her, her fingers were bloody and one of them was bent strangely. “Leia?”

Leia Ford had her head turned to Tory, her eyes close and a string of blood over the side of her face, her hair sticking to her and her arms limp next to her as Tory reached out to touch her face.

“Leia, can you hear me?” she gasped, her fingers caressing her face, but Leia didn’t answer, she didn’t move and Tory didn’t know it yet, but she was no longer breathing either. “Oh, no, no, no,” she pulled her hand away from her, her body turning instantly towards her own door, she grabbed the handle and tried to push the door open, but the hit against the tree had jammed it close.

Tory pulled and pushed for a few seconds before her mind set itself into survival mode, her hands reached out to the seatbelt, she unbuckled it and leaned forward, her ribs hissed but she knew there was only one way out of the car; the broken windshield.

The young woman pressed her hands flat over the now river of glass shards and grunted as she pushed herself up and out to the hood, the glass pierced her hands as she crawled out, her skirt was ripped and her knees got their share of glass as well as she scrambled over the damaged hood to get to the driver’s door, come what may, she had to get Leia out of the car and then call for help.

Tory jumped off the hood, her knees wobbled and an electric pain spread through her side, but still she stumbled towards the door, the lights from the car illuminating the disaster better than anything would. Her injured hands grabbed the handle and she pulled, the door budged but didn’t open, Tory closed her eyes and tugged again, pressing the ball of her feet into the dirt as she pulled once more and the door shrieked open and she slipped back.

Her hands found Leia’s face first, turning it slowly to look at her, there was blood drenching her shirt and Tory started to pant.

“Le?” she whispered into the night. “Can you hear me? Can you move? Please, can you hear me?”

She gasped and pulled her hands back, she had to get help, she had to get Leia out of there and to a hospital, Tory reached for the pocket of her skirt, her fingers wrapping around the object and she pulled it out; for a second Tory looked up at her friend, the way her body was limp, the way the blood decorated her skin and clothes, and the way, the way she was simply there.

Simply there, simply not moving.

And that’s how everything changed, that’s how her mind closed itself to damage and she turned to look down at the phone, dialing the only number she knew by memory.

It rang twice before his voice came through.

“Hello?” it was groggy and sleepy.

“I need you to track this signal” she said, he frowned and pulled the phone away from his ear for a moment before he pressed it back and pushed himself to a sitting position.

“Tory, what the hell are you talking about?” he asked, the way her voice sounded was not right.

“There has been an accident, Howard” she explained, pushing away from her face the strands of hair that were gluing themselves with the blood; and Howard felt his own blood freeze in horror, but nothing would compare to the way her words sounded before the phone call ended “Leia is dead”

Howard swung his legs off the edge of the bed, screaming at Jarvis to get the location of the signal, ordering the AI to get Steve Roger’s on the phone because his parents were out of the country with Rhodey and Sam and only Steve would know what to do.

And as Howard grabbed the first thing to wear, Tory was unbuckling Leia and pulling her out of the car, the tears were rolling down her face but she couldn’t feel them, she wasn’t aware of them; she lay her friend over the floor before she slowly sat down, setting Leia’s head over her lap, her eyes staring out into the darkness, her back to the car.

That’s how fast it all changed.

 

___________//____________

 

Steve Rogers was the first to arrive to the site, he had called Natasha on his way, telling not to wake up Clint and to head to the direction he would be sending her; he had gotten on his bike and without a word to Maria, he had left as fast as the SI costume made bike could take him.

The wind was blowing hard when he came to a stop, the lights of the car showing him the way as he set his helmet down and hurried down the small slope, the engine wasn’t running anymore, the door of the passenger was close, the windshield a mess and he recognized the car instantly.

He walked around the back of the car and came to a stop, his heart being pierced with an ice dagger as Tory came into view, her back was to him, but he could hear her, she was humming something softly; he swallowed hard but made his way towards the young woman.

“Victoria” he spoke softly, not sure how to do this.

And maybe then, then Steve was the only person who could relate to the pain Tory would be going through for the next year; because he too had seen his best friend die.

Tory turned to look over her shoulder, her eyes meeting his blue ones as he knelt down next to her, she examined him for a moment, like this was the first time she had seen him before she turned to Leia, and Steve felt like crying, one of her hands was holding her face gently over her lap as the over brushed her hair.

“Victoria”

“I didn’t see the curve” she spoke, her voice was almost a faint whisper.

“What?” he frowned and tore his eyes away from Leia.

“The curve” she explained, she turned to look at Steve “I didn’t see the curve” her hand stopped brushing the hair “I got distracted, I didn’t see it”

“Listen to me” he whispered to her, “I need to examine your friend, I’ll take you to a hospital, we’ll figure it out there”

“She’s dead” she explained, she looked down at Leia’s face, her eyes close and the blood dry over her skin, her hand caressed her cheek “I didn’t see the curve” they sat there for a few seconds before Tory turned back to look at him, the tears had cleaned a path down her face.

He looked at her, the first time since he had met Tory that this, somehow this moment, it meant everything, it changed everything; the way her eyes looked, the light drained from them, the tears drying over her skin and it wouldn’t be until years later that they would bond over life and death matters again.

The crunching of boots over the grass broke the moment and Tory looked away as Natasha walked up to Steve; he looked up at her and he saw the same look of pain and horror in her eyes as she looked at Tory.

“Tory” Natasha’s voice was soft and sweet “Tory we are here to help you, to take you to the hospital, ok?”

Tory turned to look at Natasha, and Steve simply knew what she was going to say.

“I didn’t see the curve”

___________//____________

 

Natasha and Steve turned into protective watch dogs when SHIELD arrived, none of them leaving Tory’s side, the young woman stood next to them as they carried Leia away, the tears streaming down her face again before she finally turned to look at Steve.

“Tory” he whispered, because despite everything, he needed to know what had happened.

“I didn’t mean to” her voice finally broke, Steve winced internally becuase he wanted to take her pain, to take every bit of it and make it his.

"Tory" he whisepred again.

“I didn’t mean to, I just didn’t see the curve” she covered her mouth for a moment “Oh god” she closed her eyes as she pressed her fingers painfully into her skin, Steve glanced at Natasha, but Tory uncovered her mouth and looked at them “I haven’t called her parents, oh god!” she looked over her shoulder “I need to call her parents, they need to know, I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!”

“I called her parents” said Natasha, Tory’s head snapped to her and somehow, there was a hint of hope in her eyes “They will be meeting us at the hospital”

“I didn’t mean to” she whispered again “You need to tell them that I didn’t mean to”

Natasha opened her mouth just as a familiar voice broke into the chaos of SHIELD agents and death.

“Tory!”

Tory spin around, her damage skirt flying around her as Howard hurried down the slope towards them, his hair wide, his eyes huge and Tory was sprinting towards him before anyone else could even blink.

They dove into each other’s arms as soon as they could, her face against his shoulder as she closed her eyes and the tears started to roll down, he closed his own eyes and held her tight against his body, her bruises had been cleaned and her hands bandaged, and even if she still needed to go to the hospital, the biggest wound was the one only Steve, Natasha and Howard could see.

Natasha looked away from the hugging brothers and looked at Steve, he turned to look at her and she could see the pain in his eyes, the situation way to close to home for Steve.

“You know there is no way that girl was driving that car, right?” said Natasha, her right hand fishing something from her pocket.

“I know” he sighed, Natasha pulled something out and handed it to Steve.

“A piece of her skirt was torn over the windshield” explained Natasha “I took it before SHIELD got here, if she’s sticking to her story, then we are backing it up”

Steve looked down at the fabric and then turned to Tory and Howard before he looked at Natasha.

“No one else knows” she added.

“Let’s keep it that way” and with that he took the fabric from her hand and pushed it into his own pocket.

And as Natasha was starting to talk to Steve, Tory clutched Howard’s shirt.

“This is my fault” she whispered against her brother’s shirt “If I hadn’t disconnected it, the car would have hit the breaks before impact”

Howard rocked back and forth gently “We need to go to the hospital, Vic” he whispered against her “We’ll sort it out there ok?”

She gasped against him before she pulled away from him, and that was the first time anyone would hear the words, the next person would be years after that. “She was driving too fast”

Howard looked at her, his mouth gapped, he frowned slightly as she looked back at him “Tory, I thought you…

“You need to say it was me” she whispered, her hands cupping his face “Ok? You need to tell them I crashed the car, you need to tell mom and dad that it was me”

“But Tory” he whispered, because despite everything maybe their parents should know, maybe SHIELD should know.

She pulled her hands away from his face and passed them through her hair as her face distorted in pain and more tears rushed down, she looked down at her feet as her fingers held to her hair for a few moments before she looked at him.

“You need to tell them I didn’t see the curve” she whispered again “You need to tell them that it was me”

“But it wasn’t you” he whispered, their eyes meeting.

“Prove it” she said, her voice regaining confidence, he looked at her. “Say it, Howie, you have to say it, please” she cleaned her tears with both hands “I need to hear it”

And with his words, the secret pact between Steve, Natasha, Howard and Victoria was made.

“You didn’t see the curve”

Because that’s how fast the night changes.


	26. All Things New

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THe group meets the new Avenger and Tory is ready to move on

The group followed Fury down the hallway that would lead to one of the conference rooms, they had remained silent since they had exited the lab, walking down the hallways and down a very tense elevator ride, and now finally the wait was over; they had lost Tory but apparently they had gained someone else for the team.

Tatiana glanced at her brother, Shane was walking next to her and she could feel his tension as they walked down the silent and pristine hall; Shane looked down at his feet for an instant and then glanced at his sister by the rear of his eyes, she gave him a smile with her lips pressed into a thin line but he didn’t smile back at her.

Howard was walking next to Fury, he had been barely talking to the rest of the group since he had revealed to them a secret that Mary was sure was something he had intended on taking to his grave; behind him came the twins with Mary walking just a step behind Shane and Damara and the Rogers walked behind them, the Norse girl looking around the hallway and wondering how people managed to navigate the Complex without getting lost.

The group came to a stop in front of a door, Fury’s hand landed over the control panel, he glanced at Howard and then looked behind his shoulder, his eyes resting over Mary for a split second longer before he pushed the door open and allowed the youngsters to walk in before he did.

When Fury had said that he wanted them to meet someone, this was definitely not what Ben had had in mind.

There was a young man standing near the window, his posture was one that Ben had seen multiple times, especially on his father, his hands were behind his back, he was standing straight and his eyes were on the group, piercing and calculating; and as he examined the faces, a smile spread over his face, a kind smile that Tatiana had not been expecting.

“Seb?!” the gasp came from behind Tatiana, the redhead looked over her shoulder, her eyes landing over Mary.

The Banner girl had her eyes wide and without much thought, she pushed her way between Shane and Tatiana to stand beside Howard, the surprise and shock completely evident over her face.

“You know him?” asked Howard, Mary glanced at him briefly, her lips gapped and before she could answer, the young man stepped forward.

“Yes, we know each other”

Howard turned to look at the young man, as did the rest of the group; and despite no one noticing, Fury had an amused expression over his face, this had definitely been the right choice.

“My name is Sebastian Atkins” he explained, he walked up towards Howard, his hands appearing from behind his back, he extended it to Howard and they shook hands firmly. “Nice to meet you”

“Howard Stark” said Howard shaking his hand firmly, by the way Sebastian tightened his hand around Howard’s, Howard knew the guy had to be from the military, it was the same squeeze Rhodey and Sam had. “Nice to meet you too”

He turned to look at Mary, and his eyes shined “Banner, long time no see”

“What the hell are you doing here?!” she frowned.

“Less than a week gone and this is how you welcome me?” he smiled at her before Mary threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug.

When things had gone south in her life at the military base, or when she had had an argument with her father, Sebastian had always been her rock, he had been there when no one else was and now he was here, and he felt like home.

“I’ve missed you so much” she whispered against his shirt.

“I’ve missed you too” he whispered back, even if it had been just a few days it had felt like an eternity, and a very boring one, to be without Mary.

The pair pulled away and Sebastian turned to the rest, Fury’s voice cutting into the welcome before anyone else could think of anything to say.

“Sebastian Atkins is part of the military base run by General Ross” Fury’s voice echoed in the room “His merits run deep but above it all, his recommendations come from someone I would trust with my life” Ben and Amanda looked at each other, expecting this father’s name to come out of Fury “Colonel James Rhodes speaks highly of Sebastian, which is why there was no doubt in my mind that he was the right choice for this team”

“Meaning what exactly?” asked Amanda, and Damara had the impression that her voice had lost part of its righteousness after her fight with Howard.

“Meaning that you are seeing the new Avenger” said Fury.

Shane’s eyes widened and Tatiana’s head snapped from Fury to Sebastian and then back to Fury, her fire hair rolling over her shoulders; Howard turned to look at Sebastian, the young man turned to look at him and gave him a short smile.

And Howard wasn’t sure why, but he knew they needed him.

“Welcome to the team” he said, just soft enough for Sebastian to hear just as Fury was bombarded with questions.

“What?” Amanda gasped “When was this decided?”

“Ross came yesterday to take Bruce and you are asking one of his men to join us?” Howard wasn’t sure who was even talking anymore.

“Where you even going to tell us about this?”

“What? He can be trusted with anything!” that was Mary.

Howard looked at Sebastian, the young man was looking at Fury but the tips of his ears were red, he pressed his lips into a thin line before Howard turned to Fury and took a deep breath.

“Stop” he said, his voice loud enough, and Fury could see the changes starting to form in the group, and he smiled internally.

“Howard… started Ben, but Howard turned to look at Mary.

“Do you trust him?” he asked without caring to look at the others.

“Yes” Mary answered without hesitation, Sebastian noticing that her hair was turning green “With my life”

He turned to the group “Mary trusts him, Rhodey trusts him, Fury trusts him” he noticed as Shane tightened his jaw “What else do we need? Tory is gone, we need all the help we can get, and he is here, they trust him and that’s enough for me” he turned and his eyes landed over Tatiana “It should be enough for all of us”

Tatiana looked at him, and the darkness she had seen when he had been screaming and defending Tory was gone, his eyes were hard but there was that something in them that Tatiana had seen the first night when she had seen him in the living area of the floor.

“It’s enough for me” she spoke, her voice steady, she turned to Sebastian “It’s enough for me”

“Thank you” he answered, a short nod and Mary smiled as she looked at Tatiana.

“It’s settled then” said Fury, he turned to Sebastian “Welcome the Avengers, son”

And that was how the team, that had lost Tory, gained Sebastian.

 

___________//____________

 

While the group was on its way to meet Sebastian, Tory was at the workshop, her now dead suit stood blackened and dented near one of the tables, its arc reactor had stopped blinking long ago and now remained dark like a reminder that there was no way of saving the suit.

The young woman was standing patiently looking down at what would have looked like a crystal coffin to anyone who wasn’t a Stark or Bruce Banner, her hair was pulled tight into two long braids that dangled behind her back and a pair of protective goggles rested over her head, strands of hair had been ripped and were tangled to the plastic elastic band of the goggles, but the young woman didn’t seem to notice.

When she had said goodbye to her mother and when she had seen Mary and Shane, she had been asked if she had woken up early, Tory of course, knowing the protocol of the house, had said what Tony would say, that yes, she obviously had woken up early; but truth be told, Tory hadn’t even gone to sleep the night before, after being kicked out of the team, the young woman had centered her attention into something else.

A new obsession.

The prototype of her new suit lay inside the crystal coffin, it wasn’t a complete suit but it was enough, at least for now, and a clear liquid was covering up the majestic work that any Iron Man suit would ever be; the coffin showed a time count on the left, and Tory’s eyes were constantly glancing at it, the anticipation of seeing her work done was getting to her.

She had stayed all night perfecting a secret that she had started to build since her first visit to Loki, she had hundreds of discarded paper sheets across the workshop with different formulas and numbers, different equations, corrections written in different color pens, and just when she had been about to lose all hope, the numbers had come to life in front of her and her mind had started to work like it had never done before.

And before she knew it, a master piece had been born between the paper sheets of an old notebook and the pink ink of a pen.

“This is the only chance we have of making this work, J” she spoke for the first time in fifteen minutes, her throat felt raspy and dry.

“I am very aware of that, Tory” answered Jarvis the drone, the round body levitated towards her silently, only a small murmur could be heard if anyone listened close enough.

Tory glanced at Jarvis as he levitated towards her, a black screen that Tory referred to as his face was turned to her and she offered him a kind smile.

“It has to work” she told him “If it doesn’t work, the suit will be ruined”

“If my calculations are correct, then there is no way for this to be wrong” explained Jarvis, Tory looked at him for a moment before she turned to the time count, only a few minutes left before they could see if they had been right or wrong.

“You can’t tell dad about this” she whispered into the workshop, “Or Howard, or Rhodey” she sighed and scratched the left side of the back of her neck. “Not yet at least”

“You can tell them when you feel ready to do so” Jarvis answered simply, he had never pushed Tory into anything, because Jarvis might have been an artificial intelligence, but there was something in him that had always wanted to protect the Starks and when Tory had come along, he had found it in his nature to protect her from everything and anything, even if that meant sometimes her own family.

“You are the best, J” she smiled.

“I know” he answered back, and Tory chuckled into the empty workshop.

Before Howard and before Leia, there had always been Jarvis, he had played with her when she had been little, helping her hide in the best places around the Complex when she had played hide and seek with Howard, helping her sneak out of her room into the kitchen in the night when Pepper told her and Howard no more candy, saving her work when she fell asleep over her MIT homework, listening to her cry when Leia had died, listening to her rant when the anger of the death had set it, always being there when Tory had felt that there was no one else; always being the friend that Tory had been too afraid to make anywhere else.

Jarvis and Victoria.

J and Tory.

And that’s why Tory had never felt alone, that’s why Tory had never needed anyone else, that’s why Tory found it difficult to talk to others for a long period of time.

Because she had never needed anyone else.

The timer dinged and Tory’s eyes shined, she turned to look at Jarvis and a smile appeared over her face.

“Ok, then!” she cheered, “Drain that thing and let’s take this baby out for a test drive”

“Should I keep an emergency kit nearby in case something goes wrong?” asked Jarvis, his voice simple but there was that casual mocking undertone in it that Tony had always loved about his AI.

“Jarvis” sighed Tory as she rolled her eyes “Of course you need to keep an emergency kit nearby, do I need to remind you what happened to Howard the last time he didn’t use one?” she asked as she tore the goggles of her head.

“He had third degree burns” Jarvis answered.

“And his eyebrows were burned off” Tory shrugged “So yes, of course keep it close” she walked towards one of the tables as the coffin drained the liquid “I’m not that reckless, Jesus Christ Jarvis, who do you take me for?”

“If history has taught us anything, and it clearly has” Jarvis answered “I take you for someone incredibly reckless”

“Offense taken” gasped Tory in hurt mockery, her hand landing over her chest dramatically “But you might have a point,” she grabbed her tablet and turned around to look at Jarvis “Let’s get this party started, shall we?” she smiled widely.

And as Sebastian and the team were making their way to the kitchen, Tory was getting ready to give her new invention a test drive.


	27. Daggers and Drawings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian makes an impression on the team

The team lead Sebastian out of the kitchen, Howard and Ben carrying trays with mugs and two pots of freshly brewed coffee; they had found a note from Tony at the kitchen island requesting the team to join the elder Avengers for lunch and even if Howard found the idea very promising, he also felt as if bad news were approaching.

Especially because Tony never really relied on handwritten notes as he had on this occasion.

“Ok” said Sebastian, his hands crossed over his chest. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to see the knives and the books, the one of Mary’s potion would be good too” Amanda glanced at him by the rear of her eyes.

“Sure” said Shane “We have them at one of the desks, the knives are safely locked up here, we had a few problems after… he cleared his throat.

“After Natasha and Clint attacked the Complex” Damara finished the sentence for him, she could understand that it was hard for Tatiana and Shane to talk about their parents, especially because no one understood what had been done to them.

“Sounds like a good idea” Sebastian nodded “In case something else happens”

“Agreed” said Amanda, “Mostly because we have no idea what they were looking for when they attacked the Complex”

“Well, there’s no time to waste” said Sebastian, he uncrossed his arms as they reached the first desks, the ones were Ben, Damara and Tatiana had been working.

“I have the books at my desk” said Shane, he shifted his position to face Sebastian, the Barton twin with his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

“Let’s have a look” said Sebastian, and without another word, Shane turned to lead Sebastian towards the work station he had claimed for himself and Mary, the one that for a while they had shared with Victoria.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes as he looked down at one of the books that the team had been going through, the page opened up to show a very complex and delicately made drawing; he leaned forward to have a better look at the drawing.

“Hey, Jarvis” he said, he had been sitting with Amanda and Damara for a while, but Damara had just walked into the lab with a new pot of coffee and Amanda was looking down at something her brother was showing her at his working station.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Atkins?” said Jarvis, his voice coming softly from the computer in front of the young man, he looked up at the computer.

“Oh no” Sebastian shook his head, a soft smile over his face “Call me Sebastian please” he looked down at the book and then back up at the computer. “Can I get a magnifying glass or something to help me get a better look at this drawing?”

“Of course” Jarvis answered, “You can find a magnifying glass on the third drawer of your desk, if you need a better one, you can find another one in Ms. Rogers’ desk on the first drawer”

“Thank you” Sebastian nodded, he turned to the drawers, his hand reaching out to it as another idea popped into his mind. “Jarvis, can I get a look at the knives? Physically, not in pictures”

“The knives are in a safe box at the far end of the lab, as soon as you need them, I shall open the deposit for you to retrieve them”

“Great” Sebastian answered, he opened the drawer and found the magnifying glass, his agile fingers took it, he closed the drawer and concentrated back on the drawing.

His eyes followed every line and detail that the drawing showed him, a drawing of to identical daggers, the only difference, to those who dared to look for it, could be seen in the delicate lines at the hilt and the blade of the knives; and Sebastian, just like Damara and Mary had realized, the lines were just oh so very slightly different.

Sebastian raised his head and pushed his chair back as gently as he could, he stepped down from the high chair and looked around.

“It’s the blue box” explained Jarvis, Sebastian glanced at the computer for a split second before he started to walk towards the box.

Its door opened up for the young man and inside he saw the knife and the piece that Tony and Rhodey had found when they had gone looking for Natasha, Clint and Steve; he reached forward and took the knives out, holding them gently but firmly in his hands before he made his way back towards the desk he had been working at.

Sebastian set the knives down and with the precision he had learned in the military, Sebastian inspected every detail of both knives with the magnifying glass, every curve, every line, every dent and even the slightly change of color he inspected from the knives and then, after looking at the knives, he turned back to the book.

“What are you doing?” her voice was soft but there was a bit of tension in it.

Sebastian looked up from the book and in front of him stood Amanda, her hair pulled back into a lose ponytail, her blue eyes drilling into his darker ones.

“Something is not right with these knives” he answered, not really answering her question, but stating what he had in his mind.

“What?” Amanda frowned, the arms that she had crossed over her chest dropped to the sides of her body and she walked around the desk towards Sebastian “What do you mean wrong? What happened to them?”

“Nothing happened, I think” he said, he stepped aside partially and looked down at the knives as Amanda looked at him for a second before she looked down too. “Not considering that one is already broken” he shrugged “But I think I might have found something”

“Found what?” asked Amanda.

Sebastian’s finger pointed at the book, specifically at one of the at the left “Look at the lines in this drawing”

Amanda shifted her attention to the drawing “What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing” Sebastian explained “But look at the knife that you took from Loki”

Amanda turned her attention to the knife, her eyes scanning the piece that she had already looked at a hundred times.

“I’ve already seen this,” she said, her voice irritated “These are the same knives from the book” she turned to look at him.

Sebastian looked at her, dark meeting clear, he pressed his lips into a thin line and then cocked his head to the left so slightly that Amanda wasn’t even sure he had moved.

“I don’t think they are the same knives from the book” he finally answered.

“You are joking right?” Amanda groaned after a few seconds of shock, her eyebrows knitting together as he looked back at her.

“Why would I be joking?” asked Sebastian, his voice serious.

“What’s going on?” Mary’s voice asked as she walked up towards the pair.

“Your friend thinks he found something” Amanda answered as she turned to look at Mary “Something I find absurd”

“What is it?” asked Mary, she looked at Sebastian, as the rest of the group started to gather around them.

“The books show several drawings of these daggers” explained Sebastian, he pointed down at the book he was looking at “This one has the most detailed and specific one yet, you already know because you guys had the page bookmarked” he turned to the group, his eyes focusing over Mary for a moment before he looked around them; Tatiana’s fire hair drawing his attention.

“Yes, we’ve seen them” said Damara, her arms crossed over her chest “They call them ceremonial daggers, handed down from sorcerer to sorcerer, but the book about what exactly they do, my dad couldn’t find it”

“Yes, they tell a bit about their story” Sebastian nodded “I just don’t think one of the knives we have is the one in the picture”

“Excuse me?” whispered Ben, he frowned and stepped towards them, he looked down at the book and the daggers. “Why would you think that? They are identical”

“Are they?” Sebastian asked, he leaned down and pointed at the dagger that Loki had brought, “Look at the curves at the end of each design in Loki’s dagger” he turned to the book “The ones in the drawing are curved inward, the ones on the dagger are going out”

“That’s your evidence?” asked Tatiana, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other, her eyes piercing into Sebastian.

“Yes” he answered without missing a beat, “The other dagger, the piece that Mr. Stark and Mr. Rhodes brought here, its identical to the one in the drawing” he shrugged “Why is one identical and the other not?” he narrowed his eyes as Shane and Howard exchanged questioning looks “The broken dagger has the same straight lines in the drawing but this one, this one doesn’t match”

“So you’re saying that we have a dagger unaccounted for?” asked Shane, Sebastian looked at him. “Whatever Loki brought, is still unknown, is that what you are saying?”

“Exactly what I’m saying” explained Sebastian “Don’t you think it’s strange? Asgardians documented everything perfectly, and now you guys are willing to believe that they just made a mistake in this drawing?” his eyes drifted towards Damara. “I cannot believe that, I don’t believe it”

Damara looked at him, she knew her father, she had meet other Asgardians, and Sebastian was right.

“You’re right” she answered “It can’t be the same knife, not if the drawings are not the same”

Sebastian gave her a short smile and Damara nodded back at him, she wasn’t sure how she had missed the details on the drawing, but she was glad that someone had not missed the difference.

“Ok, so we need to find the information on that dagger” said Howard “Magic is mentioned on the books, that could have something to do with what’s going with Nat and Clint, don’t you think?”

“We can talk to Thor” said Shane, he turned to look at Howard.

“Or we can talk to the person who obviously knows what the dagger is”

Sebastian’s words froze the entire group, everyone turned to look at him, he glanced around the faces, unfazed, he wasn’t even bothered by the way everyone seemed shocked with his proposition.

“We are not talking to Loki” said Amanda, a blush spreading from up her neck to her face.

“Why not?” asked Sebastian, he focused on her.

“Because he’s tried to kill the Avengers before, he’s tried to kill Thor several times, he probably had something to do with what is happening with Clint, Nat and Steve” said Damara, “You can’t trust him”

“The key word in all you just said, is **probably** ” said Sebastian “He probably had something to do with it, but maybe he didn’t” he made a pause but continued before anyone else could say a word. “He’s the only person in the Complex that knows what the dagger is and could probably do”

“This is outrageous” hissed Amanda.

“You can’t be serious” Damara continued.

“And unless” he spoke over the voices of the girls, and somehow the strength of his voice was enough to make everyone quiet down “Unless, you have a better idea, I am willing to listen, but if you don’t, then that is the only lead we have” he turned to Mary “We can’t lose time, he’s the only person here who has answers and I don’t understand why you are not willing to talk to him”

“Because he did this to our parents!” snapped Ben.

“Prove it” Sebastian said, Amanda and Ben tensed up and Howard’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You don’t have evidence, you have the history of what he has done, and you might be right, but what if you are wrong? Are you willing to risk it?”

“No” answered Mary, “We shouldn’t risk it”

“Then what would you suggest?” asked Shane, he took a few steps forward “That we talk to Loki?”

“We?” Sebastian cocked his head to the left “From what I’ve heard from Mr. Stark and Director Fury, the only person who has struck dialogue with Loki, is not in this room”

“You have got to be fucking with us” Damara rolled her eyes.

“She’s been out of the team for 24 hours for almost committing treason and you want us to put her back in?” Amanda asked.

“Ok, let’s not go deeper into that” Sebastian whispered “You don’t have to put her back in the team, we just need her to talk to Loki for us”

“She isn’t well enough to do that” said Howard, “My dad wont allow it”

“She clearly is well enough to have struck a conversation for more than five minutes according to the tape that Mr. Stark showed me” said Sebastian, his eyes casually over Howard “And your dad is doing his thing, we were asked to figure out a way to help Captain America, Hawkeye and the Black Widow, we can start with the biggest lead we have,” he shrugged “That’s Loki”

“He’s right” whispered Mary, because despite not agreeing with him, he was right in several of the things he had just said


	28. Hedgehog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The teams has to talk to Tory

The young Avengers walked down the hallway, despite the note from Tony asking them to join the elders for lunch, Howard had asked Jarvis to tell Tony that they would be unable to join them but that they could all meet up later; the group had tensed up almost as soon as Sebastian’s idea had slipped out of his lips.

Tatiana was walking down next to Howard, she glanced at him by the rear of her eyes, everyone in the group was being haunted by different demons, the Rogers had their father on the brink of death, Mary had her grandfather investing his life on ruining Bruce’s and Mary’s, Damara had her crazy uncle locked up in the tower and had her father trying to avoid yet another induced Loki heartbreak, Shane and herself had their parents under some kind of possession and Howard had his unstable sister roaming around the complex, this was certainly not what she had expected when they had been asked to join the Avengers.

“She’s probably down at the Lab we usually use” Howard answered the unasked question as they reached the elevator.

“Tory is currently not in the Lab, Howard” Jarvis jumped in as the group stopped in front of the elevator, waiting for Jarvis to send it up.

“What?” asked Shane, he looked up at the ceiling “Where is she then?”

Jarvis, who sometimes made the decision of being quiet literal, decided to answer exactly what had been asked instead of explaining with she wasn’t at the lab, like Tony would probably want to know.

“Tory is currently at the _Hedgehog”_ Jarvis answered back.

“Oh” Howard answered, Tatiana glanced at him, surprise evident in his voice, he glanced at her for a moment before the elevator doors opened up for them “Ok then, thanks J, don’t tell her we are on our way, please”

“Of course”

Howard walked into the elevator first, Tatiana glanced over her shoulder and looked at her brother before she walked into the elevator after Howard, the rest of the group followed, Howard stood next to the door, waiting for everyone to be inside so Jarvis could close the doors and taken them down.

“What is the _Hedgehog?_ ” asked Ben, he had his arms crossed over his chest and was leaning against the wall of the elevator, Amanda glanced at him for a few seconds before a glimmer on his arms drew her attention down to his wrist, she frowned as Ben looked down at his own hand and uncrossed his arms, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jeans and hiding the bracelet from view; Amanda looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, he looked up but avoided looking at his sister as he waited for an answer from Howard.

“The _Hedgehog_ is Tory’s safe place” answered Howard, his eyes over the door, like talking about his sister’s things was something secret, something he didn’t feel right about doing. “It’s one of the training arenas that dad built into the Complex, she hasn’t been there for a while”

“But that’s good right?” said Tatiana, her eyes over him “That she is training again, I mean after she lost the suit maybe she’s working on the prototype she said she had”

“The _Hedgehog_ is not for that kind of training” Howard sighed “Actually dad had it built because it’s the only sport that Tory likes” he turned to look at Tatiana for a second as the elevator came to a stop “It’s a skating rink”

The doors opened up and the group walked out, Howard leading the way because he was the only one who knew the way around the Complex, and Ben, who in secret had roamed the place at night.

“Because it is fairly new its not in the west wing of the Complex” Howard explained “It’s outside near the pool, so” he walked down the hallway, not sure why he was still talking but he kept on going anyway, somehow he felt anxious, he hadn’t talked to Tory since she had gone ballistic in her room and to be honest, he wasn’t looking forward to a confrontation with her.

“Don’t worry” said Sebastian.

The new member of the team was walking just a few steps behind Tatiana and Howard, the sun was shining through the windows that played as walls on the first floor hallway; the Avengers Complex was incredibly graceful, with sharp lines and simple colors, it made it the envy of just about the rest of the world, and Sebastian felt grateful of being able to be part of this team, even if maybe it was temporary.

Howard lead the way out a crystal door and into a beautifully made garden that had a jogging path that only Pepper and Howard ever used when Natasha and Maria were not in the Complex; the wind was blowing gently and the sun was shining but there was a humid feeling in the atmosphere that told Damara that rain was just around the corner.

“It’s going to rain” she whispered to no one in particular.

“How do you know that?” asked Mary, she glanced at the Norse descendant.

“I can feel it” she shrugged and looked at Mary “The perks of having a father that can control thunder, I guess”

“Oh, of course” Mary nodded “That makes sense” she shook her head gently, forgetting for a moment that Thor was in fact the god of thunder.

A smaller building came into view, dark windows built it up and the group didn’t know it yet but the color of the windows changed depending the climate outside; they followed the path and Howard quickened his pace without noticing.

One of the darkened windows slide to the side and opened up to them, the air conditioning filtering out as Howard stopped in front of the door, Tatiana stopped behind him, noticing the way he tensed up and balled his hands into fists, she pressed her lips into a thin line, not sure if she should say something, or if there was anything she could say that would make Howard feel better, considering that ever since his argument with Amanda, things had been tense with him and the rest of the group.

The young woman stretched her hand out to his, her fingers about to brush with his balled hand but he moved forward and left her behind, Tatiana pulled her hand back rapidly and followed after her; her gentle gesture not going unnoticed by Shane and Sebastian.

Music was blasting in the building, the bleachers were a thin wall that circled the place, in the middle stood a huge arena that the group watched as it shifted and changed and Amanda wasn’t sure how on earth SHIELD managed to train without the Stark Industries technologies most of the times.

 

___________//____________

 

“Ok then” said Tory, she was panting, sweat was rolling down her chest, her braids sticking to her back as she pumped her legs, “The _Sonic_ obstacle course” she called out into the room. “And put some _Backstreet Boys_ , Jarvis, come on, you are losing your… shit!” she hissed as she jumped, pulling her legs up to her chest as much as she could.

The echo of her roller blades hitting the floor once more was drowned by the change of music, the floor shifting under her, the straight floor turned into a slope before a cube obstacle erupted from the floor just before Tory’s eyes.

“God dam it Jarvis!” she growled “Are you trying to kill me? Is this the hard level?”

“You are probably just getting sloppy” Jarvis answered, Tory shook her head as she rolled around a second obstacle, her eyes alert and her brain trying to figure out the pattern in the way the floor was moving.

The floor shook and Tory smirk, her legs went faster, her braids hitting her back just as part of the floor rushed up and extended to the side, leaving just a small gap under the wall, Tory dropped down, hugging her knees and pressing her chin over her knee as she rolled under the wall; she pushed herself up as soon as she had left the wall behind, the small jump lifted her roller blades off the floor before she spin on the air and landed gracefully, this was the only sport she had ever liked.

“Yes!” she cried “Beat that Jarvis!”

She saw the movement by the rear of her eyes just in time to turn around as the floor turned into a deep hole, Tory lost her balance and rolled without control for a moment just as another cubic obstacle erupted from the group with speed, Tory spin around, pushing herself away from the cube, the palm of her hand cutting itself with the edge of the cube before the music dropped.

“Jarvis, what the fuck? I love that song” she looked at the ceiling, the obstacles disappearing into the floor.

“You have visit” said Jarvis.

“What?” she spin around on her heels, turning to look at the direction where the entrance of the building was. “You’ve got to be kidding me” she whispered as she saw Howard and the rest of the team there.

“Victoria” Howard’s voice echoed into the room, she turned to the side, Jarvis the drone had levitated near her all the time she had been training, like he usually did.

“You had to let him in, didn’t you?” she whispered at the drone. “Traitor”

“You said not to allow calls, not that Howard was not allowed in the building” Jarvis answered back, Tory rolled her eyes and turned to the group.

“Well,” her voice rose into the building as she slowly started to roll towards them “If it’s not Howie Boy and the Scooby Doo Gang” her hands landed over her hips as she came to a stop in front of them, sweat rolling down her chest as she looked up, they had the higher ground of being on the bleachers.

“Hey” said Howard, he pushed his hands in his pockets, her eyes over him. “How are you?”

“What do you want?” she asked, cocking her head to the side, one of her long braids rolled over her shoulder.

“We came to talk to you” said Shane, her eyes drifted from Howard to Shane and her eyes widened in surprise as she saw Sebastian emerging from behind Mary and Tatiana.

“Wow” she said, her lips quirking into a smile “There’s a new guy” he gave her a nod “And he’s incredibly handsome” Sebastian’s eyebrows went up and a small smile appeared over his lips.

“Thank you” he answered, the way he was standing, the posture of his hands and legs reminded Tory of Rhodey and Sam, and she knew instantly that the guy had to be from the military. “I’m Sebastian Atkins”

“Victoria Stark” she nodded at him, her smile remaining “Nice to meet you”

“The pleasure is mine”

Tatiana glanced from Sebastian to Tory, the blond was assessing Sebastian before she turned her attention to Shane.

“What do you guys want?” she asked, she balanced herself back and forth without much trouble.

“Look, something came up in one of the books and we have this idea” he shrugged as he looked at Howard and his sister “We need to talk to you”

Tory pressed her lips into a thin line and glanced at her brother, Tatiana was once more next to him, she glanced back at Shane and her eyebrow shot up.

“Meaning what?”

“We need your help” said Sebastian “That’s what it means”

Damara made an effort not to groan, as did Amanda, as Tory’s lips quirked into a smile, she raised her eyebrow and turned to look at Howard.

“Do you?”

“Doesn’t mean you are back in the team” Amanda interrupted, Tory’s head snapped towards Amanda, her braids flying around her.

“Oh, don’t worry, I know” she turned to Sebastian “Seems like we are going to be working together”

“Seems like it” smiled Sebastian “I’m looking forward to it”

“That makes two of us” she shrugged and dropped her hands to her sides “I’m gonna go get changed, I’ll see you at the lab”

“Sounds like a good idea” said Howard, tension in his eyes and shoulders, Mary’s eyes drilling into Sebastian’s head.

Tory gave Sebastian one last nod before she turned around gracefully, rolling away from the team to head to the changing room and get a quick shower to wash away the sweat and then head to meet with them; whatever the hell had happened since she had been asked to leave, it must be important if they wanted to talk to her.

The group watched Tory go, Shane glanced at Sebastian before the newbie spoke.

“She seems nice” he turned to Howard.

“Not really” said Ben.

“Yeah, not really” said Howard as he turned to look at Sebastian “But she seems to like you, so let’s stick to that”


	29. She's Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tory meets the group

Tory shifted her weight from one leg to the other, her hand sticking inside Jarvis the drone as the AI scanned the wound she had gotten during their training; her eyes were locked over the number count as her heart beat rapidly in her chest, of all the things that had happened in the last few days, the last thing she had expected was for her brother to show up with the rest of the group to ask for her help.

“The last nano bots in your system should start working on the wound at any second now” Jarvis explained.

“Sounds good” she nodded, pulling her hand out of Jarvis and the drone quickly closed up and turned to the doors just as they opened up for them. “Lead the way, Robocop”

Jarvis levitated ahead, even if Tory knew perfectly well the way towards the working place that the new Avengers had taken for their own; the young woman looked down at her hand, she had showered and changed clothes and a wet strand of hair flopped down as she looked at her wound.

One day all she had were marks from her works on the suits and then all she had were bloody wounds.

She walked into the room, Jarvis dropping back to levitate next to her, she could hear chattering and things moving, she bit her inner cheek trying to hold back the wincing sensation in her.

Tory came into view of the group, but the first person to see her walk in was the person who had been waiting for her the most.

Sebastian.

“Ms. Stark” he said, Amanda and Shane turning around to look at them before the rest of the group did.

“Just Victoria” she said, giving Sebastian a weak smile “Or Tory”

“Oh, of course” he nodded, he walked up to her “We were waiting for you”

She glanced around the room, all eyes over her as they walked closer, she turned to Sebastian, focusing on just one person had always made it easier for her to battle anxiety.

“So, you mentioned Loki when you went down to the _Hedgehog”_ she started, she tugged at her fingers before she pulled them away from each other and gave herself a mental shake “ _Get grip, you’re a Stark”_

“Yes,” said Amanda, Tory didn’t even glance at her. “Its about him”

“There are a few drawings that seem to contradict our information” said Tatiana.

“What a shocker, right?” hissed Tory as she glanced at Tatiana briefly before she turned to Sebastian.

Tatiana tightened her jaw “Let’s not lose more time, shall we?” said Damara.

“That’s a shocker” said Tory, she pushed her hair behind her shoulders and shrugged “Show me the drawings, pretty boy”

Damara rolled her eyes and Ben tightened the bridge of his nose as Sebastian smiled at Tory and turned around to lead her towards the desk he had claimed for himself, Howard looked at Tatiana and Amanda, both girls standing next to each other and both obviously unpleased with Tory’s once more hostile attitude.

“She’ll be here just a few hours” he whispered to the girls, Tatiana looked at him, and somehow, she felt like they owed him a new behavior with Tory, she could still remember the pain in his eyes when he had told them about Leia Ford and if Tory was gonna help them fix Steve and Nat and Clint and stop Loki, then she could have all the attitude she wanted.

For now.

The group gently drifted back to the things they had been doing before Tory walked in, leaving her with Sebastian; the pair were leaning over the table, Tory frowning as she looked down at the drawings and Sebastian went on explaining what was wrong with them.

The exiled girl and the new boy.

Tory scratched her forehead gently before she pushed herself up straight and turned to Sebastian.

“Ok” she nodded “So the drawings in the book and the daggers don’t match” she shrugged “And the other one does, right? And I was called why?” she glanced over her shoulder to look at the other group members, Amanda and Howard were looking at her, she turned back to Sebastian “I’m pretty sure they didn’t want me here, I’m not to be trusted”

“True, they don’t trust you” said Sebastian, he looked up at the young woman “But that’s not me” he shrugged and pushed himself up, Tory raised her eyebrow at him. “So, I asked to call you, I was the one who wanted to talk to you”

“Well, Sebastian Atkins, you truly know what to say to a girl to make her happy” she said, Sebastian smiled.

“I try my best”

“With that smile you don’t really have to try that hard” she shrugged, Sebastian chuckled, forcing Howard and Amanda to decide to step towards them.

“You’ve seen the drawings?” asked Howard, Tory rolled her eyes and turned to her brother.

“Yes, obviously, that’s why I’m here, isn’t it?”

“Tory please” said Howard.

“Why am I here?” she asked, “You were very clear last time we spoke, Howard, so, what do you want?”

“Your help” said Sebastian, he clapped his hands together gently and Tory turned to look at him “Like I told you, I was the one who wanted to talk to you, and yes it was about the drawings, but we already know how to figure out why the drawing is different”

“I’m listening” she said.

The fact that Sebastian was the only person she hadn’t fought with, made him the only person she was willing to listen without the snarky comments or the attitude that no one wanted to hear or be part of.

“We know how to figure it out, the only thing is, you are the only one who can get that information” Sebastian continued.

Tory frowned and glanced at Shane who had moved next to her, her eyes cold like steal and unkind, before she turned to Sebastian.

“Why?”

“Because it involves Loki” Sebastian shrugged as if it was the simplest of things.

Tory felt her lips gap slightly as she looked at the young man in front of her, she slowly turned to look at Howard, her lips pressed into a thin line and both her eyebrows up.

“I’m not a fan of this” he said “And dad doesn’t know”

Her eyebrows went higher.

“Well, what the fuck?” she finally whispered as she looked at her brother “This is utter bullshit, you guys are aware, right?” she glanced around the group briefly before she focused on her brother again.

“No one wants this” said Amanda, “But it’s the only lead, and apparently, you are the only one who can try to talk to him”

Tory tightened her jaw and Howard could see the anger behind her eyes, he swallowed and took a step forward before she spin around, her back to her brother and her eyes over the only person she was willing to trust in that group.

“Ok, Handsome, what do you want me to ask him?”

Sebastian glanced over Tory’s shoulder at Howard and Tatiana, the red head gave him a nod and he turned his attention back to Tory.

“Let’s do this then, Tory”

 

___________//____________

 

Victoria stepped into the elevator and the doors closed behind her, leaving the rest of the group behind, Tatiana watched the closed doors for a moment before she turned around and headed towards the desk and the computer where Howard had set the image of the holding cells.

“You think she’ll go with what you told her?” asked Damara as she adjusted herself over one of the chairs, Ben and Mary next to her.

“Why wouldn’t she?” asked Sebastian, he was standing with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes over the screen.

“Because she’s not very trustworthy” shrugged Amanda, Howard glanced at her, his arms also crossed, but gently Tatiana set her hand over his arm, he looked down at her hand and then up at her; a small moment in silence before she pulled her arm away from him and he turned back to the screen.

“You don’t have to trust her” said Sebastian, he tore his eyes away from the screen and looked at Amanda “Trust me”

Amanda looked at him for a split second, her jaw stern and his eyes soft, and then the doors of the elevator echoed through the camera and they turned back to it.

Loki was sitting over his bed when the elevator doors opened, he glanced up at it with lazy eyes, in the cell next to him, Natasha had been walking impatiently around and Clint had remained unmoving, Loki knew what that meant.

Tory stepped out, pushing a pen into the pockets of her jeans, she let out a breath and started to walk, only glancing to her side when she walked past the cell where Natasha and Clint where in; the pair glanced at her, Clint moving for the first time in the last eight hours, Natasha narrowed her eyes, part of her felt like she knew this person, but another part felt just a void as she watched the girl walk by.

“Well, well, well” Loki’s voice slithered into the room. “The mute returns”

“Surprised?” she asked, walking towards the crystal of the cell.

“Should I be?”

“Something has happened” she explained, she glanced at Natasha and Clint, their black eyes piercing into her, she gritted her teeth and turned back to Loki. “Its about your dagger”

Loki narrowed his eyes and stood up, he walked slowly towards the glass as Tory watched “What about my dagger?” he asked.

“It doesn’t match the one in the book” she explained, and the camera couldn’t read it, but something shined behind his eyes. “They want to know why”

“They?”

“Yes” said Tory, she stepped closer to the glass, “The others, they asked me to come”

“To ask me about a dagger?”

“Not just that” she said, her dark eyes meeting his clear ones “They need your help”

“I like this” he smiled wickedly as he looked at her “How the tables have turn”

“They need information about the dagger, about your son” she looked at him and Loki could read the tension on her shoulders.

“Why would I help any of you? What would I get in return?” he asked “You can’t possibly believe this is just something I’ll hand out to you without payment”

“Of course not” she agreed “We can settle that, once you agree to help them with all they want to know”

He tightened his jaw as he looked at her, he knew the cameras were there, Natasha had been staring at them constantly, the cameras watching their every move.

“Are you in, or not?” she asked.

And in a quick move, Tory’s left hand came up and she pressed it against the glass at her shoulder height, her eyes never leaving Loki’s; the group behind the cameras seemed surprised and Damara found herself frowning deeply.

Loki looked at her hand for a split second before he looked back at her, her eyes unchanging, he offered her the smallest of smiles before he stepped forward and set his hand against hers.

Hand, glass, hand.

He was in.

Relief washed over the group behind the cameras, now they had somewhere to go, somewhere to start solving this mess.

But what the group took as a bold move of help being granted to them by the twisted connection between Loki and Tory, was something much deep.

Loki pulled his hand away and Tory did the same, rapidly slipping her hand inside the pack pocket of her jeans; after all the last thing she wanted was for anyone to see the secret message destined only for Loki’s Norse eyes.

 _TRUST ME_ he had read before he had covered up the sign; and as they looked at each other one last time, clear eyes against dark, Loki knew she was still on his side.


	30. Of Time and Keys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tory parts ways with the group, Loki has news, something is stolen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW I was listening to this song when I wrote the last part, so I'm gonna leave the link becuase I liked it a lot :D and in case you want to listen to it and imagine that part with the music.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN0rf_1EpjE

The group watched as Tory walked back towards the elevator, Loki looking at her for a brief moment before he turned around and walked back towards his bed, he could feel Clint and Natasha staring at him; the Norse god glanced at the pair, his eyes focusing on Clint especially, he knew what had been done to him and that’s why he knew that time was not only essential for Steve.

In the lab the group watched as Tory disappeared into the elevator, Sebastian felt his lips pull into a small smile before he took a step away from the desk, Mary glancing at him.

“That went well” he glanced around, meeting Shane’s eyes first “He seems willing to collaborate with us”

“Yeah, we’ll see to that” said Damara “He’s tricked everyone before, let’s not give him the chance to do that to us”

Sebastian looked at her, his dark eyes were unreadable and that was something Tatiana most certainly didn’t like.

“Let’s see how it goes” he shrugged, “Let’s hear him out, tell Mr. Stark and the rest of them and we’ll go from there, what do you guys think?”

“You already seem like you have a plan” pointed out Ben.

“That’s why Director Fury brought me for” Sebastian answered, he glanced around the room, “Is there a problem with that?”

Amanda gritted her teeth as she looked at him, his eyes not leaving Ben’s and she could tell her brother was tensing up as they stared at each other, Mary pushed herself up to her feet, the last thing she wanted was a fight between both boys; Shane noticing instantly the way her hair seemed to be changing shades.

Shane placed his hand flat over the desk, about to open his mouth to speak but another voice broke into the escalating tension.

“My money is on Atkins beating the shit out of you, Rogers”

And for once since all of this had started, Tory’s unnecessary comments made the air a bit lighter than it really was.

Tatiana rolled her eyes but there was a small smirk on her lips before she turned around to look at Victoria, the blond was looking down at her hand, she was using her right hand to rub her thumb over her left palm.

“You ok?” asked Tatiana, as the rest of the group turned to look at her.

Victoria looked up at her “Yeah,” she shrugged and dropped her hands to her side “I just got a scratch skating, but nothing to worry”

“That went pretty well” said Sebastian, he stepped next to Tatiana.

Tory gave him a small nod, “I’m guessing you’ll have to go down there and talk to him now,” she looked at her brother “I mean, what else is there to do?”

“You’ll go with us, right?” said Sebastian, Tory looked at him but shrugged.

“Let’s not tell the old guys about this” said Shane, “Everyone is gonna flip just with the idea of talking to Loki, I mean no one knows what he really is up to”

Damara raised an eyebrow at Shane and turned to glance at Tory, because maybe they didn’t know what he was planning, but Tory did sure as hell knew something the rest of them didn’t know, and that also made her someone they couldn’t fully trust.

Like Loki.

“Ok, so maybe not all of us should go down to talk to him” said Mary, she hugged herself and looked around the room “If we are all gone, it’s going to look suspicious and we don’t need that”

“I agree with Banner” said Shane, Mary turned to him and gave him a small smile. “I’ll stay here”

“I’ll stay too” said Mary, she wasn’t looking forward to having to talk to someone like Loki, she’d only seen him once in her life, but she could go on without having to talk to him.

“I’m going down” said Tatiana, determination in her voice, she had a vague idea as to why her brother wasn’t looking forward to going down, but she wasn’t staying there, she had to see her parents and she had to hear first handed what Loki wanted.

“Me too” said Howard.

“Of course you are” whispered Tory, but only Damara and Sebastian heard her.

“I’m going too” said Amanda, she glanced at her younger brother, expecting him to say that he would be joining the group.

“Don’t count me in” said Ben, he looked at his sister “I’m not looking forward to talk to that lunatic”

“I’ll go too then” said Sebastian.

Damara took a step back, settling behind with Ben and Mary and making it clear that she wasn’t going with them to talk to Loki; apparently no one really wanted to talk to him.

“Perfect” smiled Tory, “I’ll be going now then, but have fun”

“Don’t go” said Sebastian, Shane glanced at him “I think I’d be best if you went with us, you’re the only person he seems willing to talk to”

“And you guys have that weird hand play, so it seemed appropriate, doesn’t it?” said Damara, Tory glared at her but turned to Sebastian.

“He’s gonna talk to you guys, you heard him” said Tory, “And you guys don’t want me here, its best if I go”

“I agree” said Amanda, Tory turned to her and gave her a smile.

“See, we can get along” and with that she turned on the ball of her feet and marched towards the door, Sebastian watched her go, a bit of disappointment in his mind, Tory was a brilliant mind, and they could sure use her talents, but right now, everyone’s ego was just being too much to handle.

Jarvis the drone levitated up from one of the tables and hovered behind Tory as she walked past the desk and towards the door, she glanced at him and gave him a short smile before she was out of the room.

“Ok, then” said Amanda “Let’s plan this out”

And so the clock started to tick for everyone.

 

___________//____________

 

Half an hour after Tory had talked to Loki, the group left to talk to the Norse god, leaving the rest of the group up at the lab to continue with the rest of the work and to hold the fort if any of the elder Avengers walked in asking for the rest; Jarvis had also been instructed to cover up for them.

And just as the group of four walked out of the elevator, Tory was racing out of her room; Tatiana walked out first, she had braided her hair back and it bounced between her shoulder blades as they started to walk towards Loki’s cell.

The group walked pass Natasha’s and Clint’s cell, Tatiana glanced at them and she felt her heart constrict painfully in her chest, her soul screaming at her to approach the cell and try to talk to her parents, try to make them see who she was, that she was there to save them, that she would never leave them.

Her lips gapped as Natasha stared blankly back at her, her lower lip trembled and a soft hand landed over her shoulder; her head snapped to her side, Howard was looking at Clint and Nat as well, his hand over her shoulder.

“They’ll be fine” he explained softly, giving her a soft squeeze on the shoulder.

“I highly doubt that”

His voice was like acid crashing over Tatiana, she tensed up instantly and her head snapped towards the cell, the god was laying over his bed, his arms behind his head and his legs crossed at the ankle; she couldn’t see it, but his eyes were closed.

“How do you know that?” Amanda asked, she walked towards Loki’s cell, Sebastian following after her.

“Anyone who isn’t a moron can see it” he explained, Tatiana stepped away from Howard’s touch and they both followed after Sebastian and Amanda. “It took you longer than I thought it would”

“You expected us to run to you?” asked Amanda.

“That’s what you did, didn’t you? Sending the mute to talk to me” he opened his eyes and turned his head to look at the group.

“You seemed willing to accept our deal” said Howard.

“You didn’t offer me a deal” said Loki “You wanted her to ask for my help, and then see if I would help at all” he uncrossed his ankles and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, he sat down, setting his elbows over his knees. “What part of that sounds like a deal to you?”

“Listen” hissed Tatiana, “We know the daggers don’t match, you know that too, and if you are so set into saying that this is being done by your son, then maybe you should be more willing to help us”

“Oh” he smirked “Someone is demanding”

“We don’t have time for this, we need to help Steve and Natasha and Clint, that’s where you come in” said Amanda.

“In that case” he pushed himself up “You listen to me” he glanced at all of them, there was one he didn’t recognize from the first time he had arrived. “You want my help, my information, what am I getting out of this? The relief of knowing I helped a bunch of children? I’ve been dealing with imbeciles all my life, do not think you are the exception”

“But Victoria is, right?” said Sebastian, he stepped forward “You seemed willing to make a deal with her”

“Well, she seemed ready to listen to something other than the sound of her own voice” Loki shrugged “I give you what I know, and you give me something that I want”

“What do you want?” asked Sebastian.

“You know what I want” Loki smirked as he looked at Sebastian.

“To be let out of the cell” said Howard, Loki’s smile grew as he turned to look at him.

“Ah, and I thought you were all just as stupid as my brother”

“We can’t let you out” said Amanda “You have a history of wanting to take over the world, unsuccessfully, but still” her voice was calmer now, like she was regaining control over herself once more.

“You’re right” Loki agreed with Amanda “You can’t let me out, but the man of Iron might, the oaf might, anyone else might” he walked towards the cell “You get me out of here and I will give you all you need to find Vali, and how to destroy him”

“This could all be a trick” pointed out Tatiana, “We can’t trust you”

“You’re right, you can’t” he agreed, “But I am willing to show you that I want to help”

“And how are you gonna do that?” asked Amanda.

He turned to look at Clint and Natasha, both of them listening carefully to the conversation of the small group; Loki turned to Howard.

“You said they would be fine” he spoke, his voice had changed tones, something chilling was in it now “No they won’t, not if they stay like that for long” he glanced at Amanda “With every second they spend like that, they are closer to the abyss, an abyss they’ll never return from” he shifted his position, setting his eyes over Tatiana’s, he could see the resemblance between her and the two other prisoners. “I will help one of them to show you that I am not just making a show” he turned to Sebastian “I help one of them, you get me out, I give you information and then, and only then will I help the other”

“How much time before the abyss thing?” asked Tatiana.

“Oh, dear” he smirked “The man has a few hours left, so you better hurry if you want your father to still be alive before night fall”

 

___________//____________

 

Tory dashed out of her room as soon as Jarvis informed her that the group had left to talk to Loki, she skidded towards the elevator in the hallway, her hair had been pulled back into a lose braid, strands of hair rolling over her face as she pressed the button to call the elevator up to her floor.

She held her breath for a moment, her eyes over the number count before she glanced at the stairs.

“Fuck it” and like that, she started to job down the stairs, her hair flopping behind her, there was no time to lose, the group was down, another group was at the lab, the elders were talking to Jane, this was her window.

She pumped her legs when she came to the intersection hallway, she had to cross it to get to the elevator that would take her to the west wing; her legs rose up with agility, before skating she had started track racing with Leia, she had stopped when her friend had died; her fuzzy socks made her footsteps a lot softer than they would have been as she skidded into the elevator.

The young woman marked the number of the floor, her chest rising and falling as she looked at the numbers, her face was flushed and her braid was gone.

“Come on, come on” she panted as she watched the numbers. “One more”

The doors opened up, Tory raced out.

The color in the west wing offices was a lot softer than the rest of the building, she could smell the candles her mother loved and that her father always gave her randomly throughout the month; right now, all she needed was her mother’s office.

Tory pressed her hand over the control pad, the screen read her palm and she heard the door unlocking and without much décor, Tory pushed the door of Pepper’s office and stopped under the door frame, her eyes scanning the place, she knew the position of everything; she was panting and there was a bit of sweat rolling down her back.

“Please say you left them, mom, please” she whispered, she walked towards the desk, her hand reaching out to the frame of one of their family photos, they were all wearing flower crowns, Howard had holding a sixteen year old Tory in his arms, and Tony had his head thrown back slightly as he laughed and Pepper looked at him.

Tory walked around the desk and her eyes landed over a file, she walked towards it and picked it up, it was something sent by Jessica Jones, probably had to do with the SHIELD agent that Coulson wanted to be looked into; she was about to set it down when she noticed the keychain she had been looking for.

“Yes, mom, yes” she smirked and picked it up, it had a set of small electronic cards that granted exclusive access to certain parts of the Complex, and since she was sure Tony would come looking for that later on, Tory flipped through the cards to get the one she needed.

_STRG_

Read one of the labels of a blue card, she smirked and pulled it out, the storage key was something the Starks guarded carefully from everyone, they just never thought they should have guarded it from their own kin.

She set the keychain down and set the file partially over it, she slipped the card into her jeans, she hurried around the desk and then out the room, the door closed behind her and Tory once more raced away.

Things were going accordingly to the plan, Loki had decided to go with her hand message, he had received her notes in the books and although it had taken her time, she had acquired the first thing Loki had asked for when they had talked and she had muted the system in the Complex.

Tory had the keys to the storage of the Avengers.

Tory had the keys to the storage of the Complex.

Tory and Loki had the keys to the storage and all it had inside.

Tory had the keys to the storage.

And something had been dormant in the storage room, waiting to be used, waiting for someone who knew how to use it.

Tory had the keys to the storage.

Tory had had keys to Loki’s scepter.


	31. Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Divided they fall, together they stand.

The group sat around the bigger table in the lab, the tension was palpable, not in the way it had been when Tory had been part of the team, but it was still there; the anxiety was burning into every single one of them, the anxiety with a mix of panic.

Sebastian was sitting next to Mary, he was leaning over the table, eyeing the rest of the group, next to him, Mary had her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes were set on a small dent on the metal table, Shane was sitting at her other side, biting at his lower lip and exuding panic just like his sister was as she sat at the other side of the table next to Howard and Amanda.

“Ok, so he is willing to help” Sebastian finally said, all eyes darting towards him. “That’s a start”

“What about what he said about dad?” asked Tatiana, her eyes jumping from Sebastian to Shane “What it its not true?”

“What if it is?” asked Shane, because it had become obvious to Howard that Tatiana was the one who had mastered the art of controlling emotions. “What if dad isn’t safe anymore? We can’t just leave him down there, we don’t know what has been don’t to him, Tia!”

“He’s known as the Prince of Lies, Shane” said Tatiana “If we rush into this, we lose everything, do you understand that?”

“If we don’t, we lose dad, do you get that?” he hissed, he leaned forward on the table, his eyes flaming as he looked at his sister.

“Ok, stop” Damara’s voice rose above the upcoming fight. Tatiana and Shane glared at each other but that didn’t stop Damara from continuing to talk “He said he would help Clint, as a sign of good faith, to give it a name” she glanced around the room “Look, I hate this as much as you all do, but what if he is willing to help?”

“When the fuck has he been up to help us?” hissed Amanda.

“He said he was here to talk when he got here” Howard shrugged, and Tatiana’s head snapped back to him with shock all over her face. “I’m not saying he’s a good guy, but what if we did get this all wrong?”

“Are you talking about trusting him?” Ben frowned.

“Of course not, I’m not an idiot” Howard rolled his eyes.

“Are you sure?” asked Damara “Because you are starting to sound like one”

“Enough!” Mary finally barked, her left hand slamming into the table, her arm tensed and Sebastian glanced at her instantly, but her eyes were over Tatiana. “Do you have a better idea? We’ve been running in circles with this, and so have our parents, Steve is still dying, your parents are down there with pitch black eyes and all we have are books and a theory, Tatiana” she took a deep breath, she could feel the prickle in the back of her neck, the way her hair stood up, the way her skin felt electrified, it was something else, it was the change in her skin and hair color. “He is the only thing we have, and I really don’t think you are going to risk your dad’s health because he is a fucking lunatic”

“Loki can’t be moved from his cell without the rest of the Avengers knowing” explained Howard, his eyes over Sebastian.

“Then we tell them” said the new boy, “Whatever happened to them, maybe they remember something from what happened and was done, and that is something we need right now, before everything else goes to shit”

“If it hasn’t already” said Amanda, she pushed her chair back and stood up, she turned around and walked away from the table, her pace was quick but silent as she made her way towards the door of the lab; she needed a moment, she needed to be alone for a few minutes, she just couldn’t bare to be there anymore, she had to get some air, she had to have a moment for herself before any of this continued.

Ben leaned over the table, his elbows over the surface before he covered his face with both hands, exhaustion spreading over his body and soul, he bit down a groan that was threatening to burst out of his mouth, instead he took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes before he uncovered his face.

“I’ll talk to her” he said, “Just give her some space, that’s how she handles things”

“Ok” nodded Howard “How you find it fitting”

“How do we do this then?” asked Sebastian, “We have to talk to the other Avengers”

“Yes” nodded Howard “The cells have a changing password, it changes every two minutes and its connected to my dad’s phone, no one else has access to it”

“We need to talk to him then” Sebastian nodded, he narrowed his eyes, not looking at anyone as he thought about something, then he focused back on Howard “How should we do it then? Should we all go? Should we wait for Amanda?”

“I don’t know” Ben shook his head “I’ll try to talk to her into it”

“Ok” Damara whispered.

“And I think we should all go” said Tatiana “We are a group after all, right?”

And there wasn’t bitterness in her words, just exhaustion.

“We are” nodded Mary.

 

___________//____________

 

Ben walked out of the elevator, his hands in the pockets of his sweater and his steps lazy, his heart heavy but his mind set; when he had been younger he had been fascinated with the stories of the Avengers, he had been marveled by his father and his mother and it had been that drive that had pushed him into joining SHIELD when he reached the age to do it, but unlike Amanda, SHIELD had not been his entire life, he had been the one with the social skills, the fresh mind, the steady one, the one who acknowledged his emotions, so Ben knew what to expect when he knocked on Amanda’s room door.

The door opened up for him without much wait, he stepped inside, his sister’s figure coming into view instantly; she was laying over the bed, a piece of fabric rolled up into a ball was hugged to her chest and her eyes were casted to the wall next to her bed.

“Hey” he whispered.

“Hi” she whispered back, her eyes not tearing away from the wall.

Ben walked up towards the bed, the door closing behind him, he looked down at his feet for a few moments and then sat down on the edge of the bed.

“How are you holding up?” he asked.

“I’m managing” she answered.

“You don’t have to lie to me” he sighed into the room, he looked down at her curled legs and pulled a hand out of his hoodie before he wrapped his hand gently around he ankle, he gave her a tug and her lips quivered into a small smile.

“I’m trying my best”

“I know” he whispered, he squeezed her ankle a bit.

“Stop” she whined.

He smiled sadly “This is shit, I know that” she glanced at him, shifting her body and laying over her back instead of her side, Ben’s hand didn’t leave her ankle, he looked at the fabric she was holding and he knew what it was just by the color; it was a wool green and brown sweater that belonged to their father.

“I feel like we are useless, Ben” she whispered, she wiggled her nose and he knew she had been crying, it was a mannerism he had learn to identify from a very young age “Like we aren’t even necessary, because we haven’t done anything to solve what’s happening, we haven’t done anything to help dad”

“I know you feel like that” he agreed “But you’re wrong”, she narrowed her eyes at him “This thing with Loki, it’s gonna workout, Amy”

“You don’t know that” she hissed, she hugged the sweater tighter to her chest “Nothing has worked, Loki is just playing games with us, tangling us with his riddles and lies and all we’ve done since we got here is fuck this shit up even more than before”

“Amy, listen to me” sighed Ben, he looked down at her ankle and his hand around it, she was the slender kind of athletic, so agile and quick on her feet, they were a great team when they were set together; she looked away from him, she didn’t want to hear it, she felt heavy and hurt and useless. “We are going to talk to the others, let them know about Loki’s idea,” he looked up at her, but her eyes were staring out the window, the light outside being obscured by the upcoming storm that Damara had warned about. “We need you there”

“No” she whispered, her voice sticky and he knew she was a step away from crying once more. “No, Benny”

“Yes, Amy” he scooted closer to her, she turned to look at him lazily “We are a team, whether you like it or not, and we need to do this as a team, maybe Loki has been saying secretive things, but we cant risk Clint over that” she licked her lips as she heard him talk “We are all going down there, and we need you there, remember what dad always said”

She tensed her jaw but looked at him and sighed “Together”

“Always together” nodded Ben, “We can do this, we are the Avengers”

“What if we cant save dad?” she asked as she pushed herself to a sitting position, Ben finally letting go of her ankle.

“We’ll avenge him, then” he said, his eyes stern.

“Together?” she asked, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.

“Always” he smiled at her, and Amanda smiled back, the possibility that they couldn’t save their father was hanging heavy on the air, but if they had a chance to save Clint and Natasha, she wasn’t going to sit there and watch another family being torn because some lunatic decided to hunt down the Avengers.

That’s what the Avengers did.

They stood together, they fought together.

Always Together.

 

___________//____________

 

Sebastian ventured down the hallway, his hands inside the pockets of his jeans, after Ben had left to talk to his sister, the new member of the Avengers had stated that the presence of Tory when they reunited with Loki was something that couldn’t be taken lightly, she was after all the only person he was willing to talk to.

The young man had asked the AI about the whereabouts of the young engineer and as he walked down the hallways, Jarvis instructed him what road to take; and a few minutes after leaving the lab, he walked into the workshop where Tory was working in.

 _Mumford and Sons_ was playing in the room, the young woman was sitting with her back to the door, half of her hair pulled up on a bun on her head and the rest of it tied back on a braid, her head bobbing to the music playing; there was a suit laying on the table in front of her with Jarvis the drone levitating around her.

The music dropped almost to silence and Sebastian watched as Tory’s head snapped up the drone, never missing a beat as to where Jarvis was; the drone spoke to her softly and from his place as he approached her, Sebastian couldn’t hear, but he was sure it had something to do with him, since the young woman turned to look over her shoulder.

“Officer Dreamy” she said, she pushed herself from the table and the chair swirled around, “You’re back”

“She just needs a friend” he remembered telling Shane before he left to look for Tory.

“And you’re gonna be that friend?” Shane had asked, his arms crossed over his chest and a hard look on his face.

“Yeah, I’ll try, seeing one else is making the effort” Sebastian had shrugged, “Is there a problem?” Shane had raised his eyebrow but not much had been said before Sebastian had left to look for the youngest member of the new Avengers.

“I’m back” he smiled as he walked up towards the young woman.

“Why?” she asked, crossing her legs, her hands over her lap as she quirked an eyebrow at him.

“I came to talk to you” he reached the table and walked towards one of its ends and leaned over it, Tory turned on her chair to look at him.

“Is that so?” she smirked “Why? Did something bad happen? I mean, apart from the obvious”

“No” he shook his head “Actually, Loki is very willing to help”

“Oh” she propped her head over her hand “That’s good to hear, and you came all the way down here to tell me that? You could have asked Jarvis to deliver the news”

“I’d rather do it in person” he looked down at the suit over the table “Is this yours?”

“Yes” she answered, her eyes over Sebastian “My prototype, I’m working on a few details so the suit can be approved by Rhodey”

“Colonel Rhodes approves your suits?” he looked up at her.

“Yes, he approves every suit in this place” she reached out with her other hand and her index finger graced gently over the leg of the suit. “He’s an engineer like dad, rocket scientist, so dad trusts him more than he trusts himself”

“I see why he trusts the Colonel”

“You know him?” asked Tory as she looked up at him, she continued to caress the suit.

“Yes” he nodded, “He was the one to recommend me with Director Fury for the Avengers” he smiled “He’s trained with me as has Samuel Wilson”

“Well, would you look at that” she lightened up “You are a sight and you come with the best recommendations” she shifted her chair to look at him better “Is there something you don’t do with shining colors, Mr. Atkins?”

Sebastian laughed and shrugged “I try my best, the military is all I have left since my mom died, I want to be just as good as she was”

“I’m sorry” she whispered, her smile wavering.

“It’s ok” he shrugged “You didn’t know”

“I’m sorry anyway” she nodded at him, because she too knew how it felt like to lose someone she loved.

“So,” he entwined his hands and looked at her, his warm smile over his face “I came to ask you to join us when we head down to talk to Loki”

Tory’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as she looked at him “Why?”

“Because you helped us talk to him” he answered without much worry “And I think that if he sees you there, you being the only person who trusts him, it would make him see that we are actually trying to work with him” he pushed himself away from the table. “What do you say?”

She raised one eyebrow and looked at him for a few seconds “Huh” she pouted for a few seconds “Sounds logical” she shrugged “Lead the way then”

And Sebastian smiled as she pushed herself up from the high chair, her braid bouncing between her shoulder blades, he knew what she had done when she had been part of the new team, but so far she seemed willing to help and listen and he was going to hold on to that, she was being kept away because she was reckless and he wasn’t allowed in because he was new.

After all, the outcasts gravitate towards each other.

 

___________//____________

 

Tory told Sebastian she would wait for him in the kitchen while the rest of the group talked to the Avengers, she was after all not back in the team and she knew that her presence wasn’t exactly wanted by everyone back at the lab; she kept shut about the fact that she hadn’t seen her father since she had been the rudest person in the world and had hissed at her brother and her father.

And so, the group traveled down the hallway to meet with Tony, Thor and Bruce, Ben and Amanda had joined them when they had walked out of the elevator and Howard was glad to see that Amanda would be joining them; she was after all a very important part of the group.

Howard and Mary walked ahead of the group, the young man reaching out first to open the door for Mary, she stepped in first and gave him a small smile, Sebastian grabbed the door after Howard and held it for the rest of the group before he walked in last.

The personal lab where Tony usually worked was full of different sounds, Thor’s voice booming above a few chirping noises and Damara felt her heart grow heavy, she knew that despite it all, Thor would always want to believe that there was good in his brother and this would only fuel his hopes that Loki was in a road to redemption.

“Hey dad” spoke Howard, his voice sweet like they had only heard once with Tory, but loud enough to travel above the chirping of the machines and Thor’s voice.

Tony’s head snapped up from what he was doing, mixing liquids in a machine that Howard had seen in a few old documents from his grandfather.

“Howard” said Tony, he pulled off his gloves and stood up “Guys, what’s going on?”

“We need to talk” said Mary, Bruce had already turned his attention to the group and Thor had grown silent.

“Something happened?” asked Bruce.

Mary looked at him and glanced at Sebastian, who had walked up to her side, she turned to her father “Um, yeah something like that”

“What is it?” asked Thor, he crossed his arms over his chest and Damara looked away from his eyes.

“ _This is never going to end”_ she thought, because she knew how much his father had hurt with all the things Loki had ever done.

“It’s about Loki” said Howard, Thor instantly tensed up and a frown appeared over his face.

“Something happened to him?” asked the Norse king, he took a step forward.

“Jarvis, visuals on Reindeer Games” said Tony, he looked away from the children to the screen that Jarvis had popped up for him.

“Dad, no” said Howard “Nothing happened to him” he sighed and stepped forward “But we need to talk about him”

Bruce and Thor glanced at each other as Tony frowned and looked at his son “I’m listening”

“He has made us an offer” started Ben, Tony looked at him “Something we can’t take lightly”

“What kind of offer?” asked Tony, “And wait,” he extended his arm to them “When did he have time to talk to you?”

“He said he’s gonna help Clint” said Amanda “If we help him too”

“No, no, no” said Bruce “We can’t trust him”

“He said Clint doesn’t have much time” Amanda continued “That he’ll help Clint as an act of good faith, for us to see that he does want to help us”

And Damara could see the light in her father’s eyes shining brighter.

“When did he say this?” Tony was upset now “When did you guys talk to him?”

“Like an hour ago” said Sebastian.

“I thought he wasn’t talking to anyone” said Tony, his eyes darted to his son, Howard had pressed his lips into a thin line and Tony’s eyebrows shot up in shock, he passed a hand over his mouth and chin before he spoke again. “So what, you believe him?”

“Well, he seems willing to help” said Sebastian.

“This is crazy” said Bruce “He is a liar and now he expects us to believe him?”

“Its all we have” said Howard “You know that just as well as we do, we have nothing and he has information”

“And he is willing to trade it” said Ben “We can’t risk Clint, we really can’t”

“When does he want to help him?” asked Thor.

“Today” said Tatiana “Before nightfall”

“So in ten minutes?” asked Bruce, Tatiana nodded, Bruce looked at Tony.

“How did he agree to this?” asked Tony “He wasn’t talking to anyone when Clint and Nat where taken down there”

“Not to us he wasn’t” said Damara, Thor’s eyes snapped to her.

Tony’s eyes hardened as he looked at Howard “She believes him” said Howard.

“Yeah” said Tony “She has believed him since the beginning,”

“We wanted to let you know, so you can help us get Clint and Loki together” said Sebastian “You are the only person with the codes” Tony looked at him “And I’m sure you are not going to say no”

And Sebastian was right.


	32. No

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Loki to keep his side of the deal

It had been set then, that the group would head down to see what Loki meant with helping Clint, Tony had had an urge to ask the youngsters to stay behind and watch from the cameras, he didn’t want any harm to come to them, but Tony also knew better than to ask them that, and that’s how they all ended up going to the elevator.

“Are we all gonna fit in there?” asked Damara, her hands pushed inside the pockets of her light grey hoodie.

“Don’t worry about it” answered Howard, “We are not gonna use the usual one, there’s a bigger one, for SHIELD and all that” Damara looked at him and gave him a short nod.

“Does SHIELD know that Loki is here?” asked Ben, he was walking next to Damara and Howard, just a few steps behind Bruce and Thor.

“I don’t think so” said Howard, he looked at Ben “You work for SHIELD, do they know?”

“As far as I know, they don’t” Ben answered “But I’m not a high rank official at SHIELD,” he glanced at Damara “What about Fury?”

“I don’t think he knows” said Damara “He left to see my mom and Darcy, help in what could be done with the data she has”

“I hope this goes well” whispered Ben, Howard looked at him for a few seconds, this wasn’t something that could go wrong, because not only Clint’s life was on the line, but he knew that hell would be unleashed on his sister as well.

Tony lead the group towards an elevator that Mary had never seen, not that she knew much about the Complex either, the doors were open for them but Tony stood by the doors as the rest of the group got in; the twins standing side by side, holding hands and tense as was to be expected.

Howard was about to walk in but Tony stopped him briefly, his eldest child turned to look at him, and Tony could see in him the perfect combination in all that had ever been right with his own father and all that was and would ever be perfect with Pepper.

“Where’s your sister?” asked Tony, his voice was soft.

“Sebastian went to look for her” answered Howard “I think she was waiting at the kitchen”

“Ok” nodded Tony, he offered Howard a short smile and the young Stark walked into the elevator followed closely by his father. “J, you know what to do”

And just like that, the elevator doors closed and it started to move downstairs, Mary wondering how did one get used to having Jarvis around all the time at all times.

Just as the team was getting into the elevator, Sebastian and Tory were doing the same, the young woman had pulled her hair into two buns at the sides of her head, but as they walked in, she simply undid them and leaned against the wall of the elevator; the perpetual change of hairdos wasn’t missed by Sebastian.

“I think the rest of the team is already heading down” he said, he leaned at the other side of the elevator and looked at her.

“They are” answered Jarvis, Tory chuckled and looked at Sebastian.

“Thanks, J” said Tory, “Are you nervous?”

“Of course I am” he agreed, “Clint’s life is on the line” he narrowed his eyes and looked at her “Are you?”

“Well, Clint’s life is on the line, I’d be nervous even if Helen Cho was operating on him” Sebastian shifted his weight from leg to the other, she looked at him for a moment “What did you tell them to convince them to talk to Loki?”

Sebastian looked at her, and he knew the answer would bother her “Not much” he finally said “I asked them if they had a better idea, and then he said Clint needed immediate help”

“And here we are” she said, he nodded, Tory nodded and bit her inner cheek, “ _The nerve on these people”_ she hissed in her mind, she had proposed the same thing and when she had done it, she had been kicked out of the team; she shrugged and decided to move on “Anyway, you and Banner know each other, huh?”

“Yeah, we practically grew up together at the base” he laughed “How do you know that?”

“There’s nothing Jarvis can’t find” she explained “And I heard the conversation between Bruce, Tony, Thor and Fury”

“Oh” he chuckled “Yeah, she’s family”

“Well, She Hulk is one lucky girl” Tory said, a short smile over her lips, her hands slipping into the pockets of her shorts.

Sebastian laughed, the dimples showing and his eyes closing as he doubled over partially before he looked back at Tory “She Hulk?” he chuckled “You call her She Hulk?”

“I said it once, my brother thought it was offensive” she shrugged.

“I call her She Hulk too” he smiled, his eyes shining “I think I was the first person to call her that, she doesn’t mind”

“It was you?” she asked, she smiled and crossed her arms over her chest “She said a friend called her She Hulk”

“That’s me” nodded Sebastian “She doesn’t find it offensive don’t worry,”

“She seems nice” Tory whispered, “She saved my life, too” Sebastian’s eyebrows shot up in surprise “When Natasha and Clint attacked the Complex, Clint was gonna shoot me and Banner took the bullet for me, I mean I know it didn’t hurt her, but she was willing to do it and that counts a lot”

“Of course it does” Sebastian agreed “That’s who she is”

Tory nodded as she looked at Sebastian, she had talked to Mary few times but when she been hurt both times, Mary had always been interested in knowing about her wellbeing, Tory wasn’t the easiest person to deal with so she knew that there was no need to do it, and yet Mary did it because that who she was.

And before any of them could say something else, the elevator beeped and the doors opened up for them, Sebastian turned to the door and pushed himself away from the wall and stepped towards it, and just as he emerged from the elevator, Tory a few steps behind him, the other elevator opened up and the bigger group walked out; Tony leading the way.

Tony stopped in his tracks and looked at his daughter, the young woman glanced at him and for a moment, Tony could see the soft eyes that had laughed with him down at the workshop, the soft eyes that he remembered on his mother and that he had seen in Pepper as well.

“Well, would you look at this” the words echoed into the room and deep into the bodies of a few of the Avengers.

Tony’s head snapped towards the sound and he started to move rapidly, Thor and Bruce following his closely, Mary stepped towards Sebastian as they started to move towards Loki, Tory dropping behind to the end of the group; Sebastian glanced over his shoulder to look at her for a moment but Tory had already disappeared behind the Barton twins and Amanda.

“Brother” said Thor, he stepped forward towards the glass, no matter how many times he had seen Loki locked up, it would always hurt him.

Loki was standing in the middle of the cell, Thor noticed that his cape and coat were neatly folded at the feet of the small bed in the cell.

“Great decision” said Loki, his eyes instantly falling over Tatiana, the young woman tensed up but didn’t move. “Shall we begin?” he asked, turning his gaze towards Thor.

“How would this work?” asked Tony, he looked at Loki the way he always had, there was no fear in his eyes, he knew what Loki could do, but he also knew that Loki was aware of what they could do.

“You let me have contact with the man” explained Loki, he glanced at Clint and Natasha and then turned back to Tony “And then he is all yours”

“Just like that?” asked Tony.

“Just like that” nodded Loki “This time, at least” his eyes wondered towards Tatiana and Shane “But she doesn’t have that much time either”

“Are we supposed to just take your word for it?” asked Bruce, he had taken off his glasses, but his gaze was still very much intense.

“No” Loki answered, his eyes snapping to Bruce “But someone already took it” and his eyes snapped to Tory at the back of the room without much effort. “And we could stay chatting all night here,” he continued, his eyes returning to Thor “But he doesn’t have much time, the choice is yours, BROTHER”

Thor looked at Loki, his betrayal was very clear in his mind, but just like that he couldn’t deny that Loki had risked his life to help him fight Malekith and keep Jane safe, he had helped Thor escape Asgard and he had fought next to him; and so Thor sighed and took a step forward towards the glass, and without looking at Tony he said.

“Open it”

Tony looked at Thor, the Norse god that they sometimes didn’t listen but who knew so much more than most of them, a gentle giant with a golden heart, and with a heavy heart, Tony pulled his phone out and walked towards the control panel close to the cell in which Loki was confined, he took a deep breath and turned to the others.

“I’m opening Clint’s too, keep an eye open in case they try anything”

Howard nodded next to Damara, Mary and Sebastian.

“If something goes wrong” the words were soft and there was no threat in them, just facts “This is on you” Tory didn’t have to look up to know who it was, instead she kept her eyes locked over her father.

“I know” she answered, because she was ready to deal with it if she was to blame, she had managed to survive Leia, she could survive anything.

The door of the cell _swushed_ open and more than one Avenger held their breath as Loki walked towards the opening that had appeared for him; Damara tensed her jaw, if he had looked intimidating when he had arrived to the Complex, that didn’t hold a candle to what he looked like now.

Most of his gear was off and set over the bed, his hands behind his back, but the way his eyes scanned the group seemed a lot more intense than they ever had and the small curve of his lips told her that he did know much more than the rest of them.

“ _He has the upper hand”_ she thought, and she realized that Loki was probably not someone they wanted as an enemy and yet he was the first enemy the new Avengers had managed to make.

“How nice to see you again, Brother” smirked Loki as he walked up to Thor “How long has it been?”

“Not long enough” answered Thor.

“Ah” Loki continued “You make it sound like you don’t miss me”

Thor looked at him, his younger brother, and he couldn’t help but remember all those times where Loki had tended Thor’s wounds and flus, all those times Thor hadn’t hesitated to stand up for Loki when bigger kids wanted to pick up a fight with the pale and skinny Loki; all those times they had been brothers and all those things that Loki seemed to have forgotten so easily.

Like they had never meant anything to him.

“Shall we begin?” he asked, his piercing green eyes scanning the room, stopping over Tory for a second longer before he focused on Tatiana.

“Let’s not waste any more time” said Tony, he pushed past Thor and walked towards Clint’s cell, pressing his hand over the control pad, Jarvis read his palm and the door _swushed_ open for him.

Natasha and Clint were standing up and looking at the group, even in the strange possession they were, they knew very well that they were outnumbered, and Clint could remember Mary and the way the bullets had bounced off her and she had lifted him off the ground without much effort.

Loki followed after Tony, rubbing his hands gently, his eyes changed from the mockery light into something sharper, something much more dangerous, a special kind of concentration that Thor had not seen often in his brother.

Loki meant business, whether it was for the better or the worse.

The Norse God of Lies walked into the cell and Natasha and Clint took a step back and Loki couldn’t help but smirk as he looked at them, how the tables had turned, the hunters had turned into the hunted, he rubbed his hands harder and Tony saw a few green spark coming from his palms, he glanced at Thor with a nervous expression on his face.

“I know you can see me” said Loki, his eyes over Clint, not even caring to see that Natasha had moved away from her husband “What a shame of a man you are” he spoke, his words low but the intention very clear in his voice.

Clint clenched his fists, part of him sensed that he knew this man in front of him, he could feel it in the way his heart was beating faster, like a deer caught in headlights, but right now it didn’t matter, right now all that matter was the mission.

“We know how this ends” said Loki, he took a few steps forward.

“Brother” Thor warned him, stepping inside the cell after his brother, Tony following him quickly, his watch turning into a suit glove; Clint took a few steps towards Loki as well and Tatiana recognized the posture in his body.

“This ends with me,” hissed Loki, the green sparks around his hands growing and Thor could hear the crackling sound that came with fire.

“NO!” cried the red head girl as her father rushed forward, his sprint just like the one Shane had when he ran, she reached forward as Loki moved and finished his sentence.

“Destroying you”

And Clint jumped towards Loki and Loki threw his body towards Clint, his right hand stretching out towards the archer, the flame of green fire revolving around his open palm; and it looked like a slow motion movie as his strands of raven hair swayed around his pale face, Clint’s fist rising to be slammed into Loki’s face, Thor reaching out to grab his brother and Tony running around Thor to avoid what was coming as Tatiana’s shriek echoed in the room.

It happened then, in front of all their eyes.

Loki’s open hand slammed against Clint’s chest, his face missing Clint’s fist by an inch before the archer was sent flying back, the green flames slithering into his body as he hit the other side of the glass cell and dropped to the floor.

Unmoving.

“NO!” the roar that erupted from Tatiana couldn’t be compared to anything, Mary’s eyes were wide, her hand clenched around Sebastian’s wrist, Amanda was covering her mouth with both hands and Ben had pushed himself towards the front of the group as Shane remained unmoving next to his sister, the color drained from his face.

Damara was shaking as she looked at her father grabbing Loki by the back of the neck and throwing him back, and Howard turned on his heels to look at Tory just as Tatiana did the same thing.

Tory was standing at the back of the group, her hands at the sides of her body, her golden hair swaying gently and her eyes not looking away from Loki, even as Tatiana pushed Amanda and Damara away to get to Tory, anger rising through the redhead as Howard dashed to stop the upcoming fist fight that Tory had no chance at winning.

“You!” Tatiana grabbed Tory’s arm as painfully as she could, but the blond couldn’t take her eyes away from Loki, he was slammed against the wall of the cell but he turned his head and their eyes met.

Clear against dark color.

“Tatiana!” cried Howard as he hurried towards her and the rest of the team reacted and turned to one of the twins.

But another voice echoed louder in the room.

“Tony?”

Tatiana froze and turned to look over her shoulder, the whole room going silent and turning to look at Tony.

The engineer was kneeling next to Clint, his head in Tony’s hands and there was a small surprised chuckle that erupted from Tony’s throat as he looked down at Clint; his eyes no longer pitch black.

“Geez Legolas, you gave us a scare” spoke Tony.

“Don’t I always?” chuckled Clint, he coughed and Tony gently told him to lay down, he turned to Thor.

Thor was holding Loki against the wall of the cell, his hand pressed firmly over Loki’s chest, Thor turned to look at his brother and Loki looked at Thor deep in the eyes before he slowly turned to look away towards the group of Avengers.

“You’re welcome” Ben watched as Loki spoke to the group.

No, not speaking to the group.

Loki telling her.

Loki telling Victoria.

And Tory’s lips quirked into a small smile before she pulled her arm away from Tatiana’s grip, the redhead turned to look at her, shock and relief over her eyes; both women looked at each other, one redhead and centered, logical and organized and the other blond and taller, a wild card.

The blond tore her eyes away from Tatiana and looked at Howard, only a few steps away from Tatiana, their eyes met and there were so many things hiding behind Tory’s darker eyes, but all she managed to do was center her attention elsewhere.

He was still looking at her when she looked at him, her eyes much darker than his, she swallowed hard as Thor let go of Loki and walked towards Tony to help him pick up Clint and only Shane and Mary noticed as Loki gave Tory a short nod that the young woman returned.

 

 


	33. Lives and Plans and Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The elder Avengers make a decision, and Loki finally vents.

It had been two hours since Clint had returned to this reality, he had been conscious for a few minutes when Thor had been taking him to the medical bay, but he had slipped back into unconsciousness as they had all been riding the elevator; the twins had followed the elders to the medical bay and were currently stationed there, waiting for their father to come back to his senses, while Helen Cho took control of the hospital wing, refusing to let anyone else be in charge of Clint’s recovery.

He was after all, an old friend.

After leaving Clint in Helen’s hands, Thor had announced to both Tony and Bruce that he would be heading to New Mexico to talk to Jane, Coulson and Fury about Clint’s condition later that night, he felt it was something that had to be done personally and that maybe there was something there that he could help with.

For now the three elder Avengers sat inside the lab where they had been working on Steve, the Captain was inside his capsule and the vitals were beeping softly in the background.

“It seems like it work” Tony finally said, he had his head propped over his left hand, making an effort to ignore the soft but uncomfortable pressure spreading through his chest. “For now at least it looks like it”

“I’m having a hard time believing it too” said Bruce “Despite the fact that Clint is recovering, this could still go south”

Thor was sitting down in silence, his arms crossed over his chiseled chest, his eyes over a small indentation on the metal table; his mind was recalling all those times he had helped Loki, all those times Loki had healed him when they had been younger, how he had showed Thor his magic tricks when he had been learning them, when Thor had still believed their paths could go parallel to each other.

“At least we have Clint back” said Bruce.

“Yes, but what about Nat? What about Steve?” asked Tony, he pulled his head away from his hand and glanced at Steve “How do we get them back?”

“Loki can probably help Nat, as well” pointed out Bruce, he turned his attention to Tony, seeing that Thor had been sitting silently for the last forty-five minutes.

“What do you think, Big Guy?” asked Tony, he turned his eyes to Thor, his hair was pulled back into a small braid. “That he’ll help Nat?”

Thor turned to look at Tony, this had been the first Avenger that had tried to fight Thor when they had first met, and now, now Thor couldn’t imagine a life were Tony wasn’t in it, he was his friend, his companion, his teammate, his family.

“Not without getting something in return” pointed out Thor “That’s why he helped Clint, to show us that he could help him”

Tony passed a hand over his mouth for a moment, Bruce sighed and looked at Thor, it was obvious that Loki had the ball on his side of the court.

“Shit” Tony finally whispered “Giving him what he wants puts us in a very complicated situation, mostly because he’s Loki”

“What do you think he wants in return?” asked Bruce, he narrowed his eyes, his glasses folded in front of him over the table.

“To be released from the prison” answered Thor “He wants his freedom back, and Natasha is the only way he can negotiate that” he looked at Bruce “Mostly because he’s probably right about no one else being able to help them”

“Stephen could, right?” asked Tony, a frown forming over his face “Stephen could help Tasha and probably Steve”

“Yeah” Bruce agreed with a shrug “But where is Stephen? He’s probably in another dimension, another astral plane, and frankly we don’t have that much time to figure out where he is and ask for help”

“Shit” hissed Tony “I hate when you are THAT right” Bruce smiled softly and Thor couldn’t help but shake his head amused, this was yet another reason why he loved these guys, why something had to be done to help Tasha and Steve.

“If we give him what he wants,” Tony started, his mind was already racing a million miles a minute, like it usually did, no much how much he tried to control it, a problem that also affected his daughter. “Do you think he can be trusted?” he glanced at Bruce by the rear of his eyes “Don’t give me that look Banner,” he groaned as he turned to look at him “It’s a good question”

“I’ve trusted Loki before” said Thor “When Jane was the host of the _Ether_ , he by all means did do everything in his power to help me” he looked at Bruce and then at Tony “Yes, he did fake his death, but he was ready to give his life in the name of revenge for our mother’s death”

“Yes” nodded Tony “But right now, we are not avenging your mother’s death, we are not avenging anything he remotely holds dear to himself, we are trying to help someone dear to US”

“If I may be honest, I do believe part of him is willing to help us” Thor continued “His freedom is he helps Tasha, but I also know that he won’t be a hundred percent truthful when he helps, that just the way he has always been, playing games with riddles and half-truths”

“This isn’t a game” pointed out Bruce.

“Not for us, it’s not” said Thor simply as he turned to look at Bruce.

Tony closed his eyes for a few seconds, his mind was running scenarios, possibilities, but it all came back to Loki, and how was it that the first time they had assembled it had been because of Loki, and now that it was their kids time to assemble, he showed up again like nothing had changed.

“So we talk to him” said Tony, both Bruce and Thor turned to look at him “Because I frankly don’t see another option and we can’t lose Tasha, not now that we don’t know what’s happening to Steve”

“You can talk to him” said Bruce as he looked at Thor, “Tell him about the exchange”

“No” Thor shook his head, “You saw how it was the last time I went to talk to him, he won’t speak, he will just listen, and if he won’t speak, then he won’t agree to helping us”

Bruce and Thor looked at each other for a moment, the realization and acceptance washing over both of them before Tony turned to look at them, a frown over his face, his eyes jumping from Thor to Bruce and then back at Thor.

“What?” asked Tony. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“He won’t talk to me” pointed out Thor, “But…

“It’s the only way” said Bruce.

“What?” he asked again before the knowledge hit him “What?! No,” he shook his head “No, no, no” he continued “You are not suggesting what I think you are”

“Tony, it’s the only way” said Bruce “He already talked to…

“That’s my girl!” barked Tony, he pointed at Bruce with anger.

“Tony” said Thor, he could see the distress in Tony’s eyes. “From the other side of the glass, he cannot hurt her”

Tony’s head snapped to Thor, his mouth ajar “Not physically he can’t” he pointed out. “She’s not ok, she’s …

“She’s gained his trust, even if he wants to manipulate her” pointed out Thor, he pushed himself up “She’s the only person he can count on in this place, and he is not going to risk it”

Tony pressed his lips into a thin line as he looked at Thor “If he hurts her…

“It will be the last thing he ever do” said Thor “I give you my word, Tony”

 

___________//____________

 

While the group of young Avengers, minus the Barton twins and Tory, gathered at the living area of the kitchen, Loki was laying over his bed on his left side, his eyes were closed and he had drifted into a soft slumber, all the while feeling Natasha’s eyes over him.

He knew that now that the others had seen that he was in fact able to help Clint, it was just a matter of time until they returned asking for help to turn the woman back to her original state, how long his answer would take, depended on how long they debated over asking for his assistance.

In the silence that had fallen over the room since the group had exited, one last share, complicit look between Loki and Tory, Loki had rejoiced in the fact that his son was probably already ready to tear his hair of his own head. He shifted his position slightly, when he heard metal moving, his ears strained to hear better as his eyes popped open, he stared into the darkness of the room, the only lights that were on were his and Natasha’s.

He pushed himself up with a soft grunt and his eyes snapped down to the floor, and low and behold, a book lay a few feet away from him, just like the _Dracula_ edition had.

“ _Well, well, well”_ he thought “ _Would you look at that”_

He pushed himself up and walked towards the book, he picked it up without much trouble and turned it on his hands before he returned back to his bed, he sat down and looked down at the book; Natasha all too interested in the gift that had arrived to the other prisoner.

 _The Sun Also Rises_ read the cover of the book, it seemed older than the _Dracula_ edition, and by the worn look of the margin pages, Loki had the impression that it was probably a first edition.

Carefully, with the respect that his mother had taught him to have towards books, Loki opened it, awaiting for the secret note, just like the one he had found before; it took his a few minutes of flipping pages, for the note to finally appear.

Loki smirked, unable to contain himself as he read it.

_Have it._

_Don’t back down._

_Trust me._

_V.S_

 

His eyebrow quirked up at the second line, he had never backed down and he wasn’t about to start now, but still he smiled shortly, the plan was working, what they had talked about when she had silenced the microphones had worked and now Loki could see a way out of here.

And just like he had done with the last note, he flicked his fingers and a green flame came to live, burning the note softly and almost soundlessly, his eyes watching it carefully as he sensed Natasha walking around her cell.

“Whatever plan you have worked out” her voice was like he remembered, yet there was something dying in it, and he knew perfectly well what it was “It wont work out”

Loki watched as the flames consumed the note before he turned to look at the red head woman standing, watching him.

“Is that so?” he asked, “Because if I remember correctly, there used to be two of you in that cell, and now, it’s just you”

“You can’t intimidate me” she continued.

“Oh” he smirked and pushed himself up, he walked towards the glass, his eyes piercing into her soul. “How terrified do you think I am?” he asked “Of you and your little games?”

The woman had her hands behind her back, her gaze over him and her lips in a thin line “If you were smart, you wouldn’t have come here”

“You think your word play is going to have an effect on me, Vali?” he asked, a smirk on his lips “How much energy are you burning into just to talk to me?” he cocked his head to the left “You think you can come here and play games with me? I have been here longer than you have, I invented this game, and you will not survive it”

“You should have listened to me” there was no desperate tone in her voice, but if Loki knew his son, and he did, he knew that Vali’s voice would have sounded desperate. “It would have been easier, such a great part of the glory would have been yours”

“Oh” laughed Loki “You give yourself so much importance,” he licked his lips “You think you have control over this, that your plan is just success, but I know you” he took a step forward “I know the kind of leech that you are, and you will fail, just like you have failed so many other things before” Loki leaned forward “You think you are better than me, this trick” he signaled Natasha “I’ve done it before, I’ve done all your tricks before, I’ve done all the tricks before, you should have known better, Vali”

“An imbecile is what you wanted me to be” he barked, and Loki smiled, he was making Vali lose his temper “Work with the oracles, the sorcerers, watch all the knowledge fade away, expecting me to learn the basics and never use that for what I wanted, you are the one who should have known better”

“Your mother was a poor soul who died thinking her son was competent of anything, when you are just a disgrace to everyone who has ever been linked to you” he narrowed his eyes “You read books, you talked to the oracles, you talked to Strange once, and that should have been enough to let you know that you do not want to cross me again” he saw doubt cross her face, he knew Vali was losing his grip, Loki grabbed the hem of his shirt with one hand and tugged it up, revealing his slender but chiseled and pale abdomen, a long scar crossed from his hip and up slightly to his ribs “This is the mark of your failure, this is what everyone warned you about” he dropped the shirt “I might be a Frost Giant, adopted son of Frigga and Odin, brother to Thor, King of Asgard, but there is something that is mine and mine alone, and you know exactly what that is” he stepped forward, the tip of his boots touching the glass wall “My magic has no comparison, Strange and the oracles told you that, they wanted you to be powerful, hoping you’d had it in your from your mother and me, and you thought you did, but power, Vali, doesn’t come from hoping, doesn’t come from your genetics, it comes from discipline, it comes from hard work, research, it comes from desire, and you have none of that, you are a lazy fool who thought you could get anything you wanted because powerful magic runs in the family” Natasha took a step back “That’s why the oracles asked you to leave, that’s why Strange vanished you, because you were lazy and arrogant and you were and will always be a failure”

“Enough!” she barked, her eyes flared up, but Loki had won.

Again.

“You boast of all your magic, and all your power and yet, here you are, trapped in a crystal cell, asking a blond disgrace to help you, who is the failure now, Father?”

“I’ve killed you once before, Vali, almost succeeded a second time not long ago” he cocked his head to the left “You tried to kill me once, and only left me a nasty scar, so let’s make this real now” and Loki’s eyes hardened “You’ve already lost one life, so I will be very clear with you, SON” he filled the word with as much poison as he could “You have five more lives to go, and I will take every single one of them until I have purged this world from your presence”

“I’ll be waiting” she hissed, but there was no power in her voice.

“Not for long” said Loki, before he turned on the ball of his feet and walked towards his bed, Natasha closing her eyes and shaking her head briefly before Vali left her consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think about this one, about Tony, about Tory's mystery letters, about anything you like!!! :D Have a great day and thanks for reading!!!


	34. It's Time To Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The young Avengers talk, and Loki delivers news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the gif fest BTW :D
> 
> But do let me know what you think :P

The group, minus the Barton twins, where gathered in the lab, they had discovered that the daggers were not the same, and that Loki could obviously heal both Natasha and Clint, but they had also, finally come to the realization that the only person who could help them get Steve back, bring him from the other side, was also Loki.

Mary, Damara, Howard and Amanda were sitting over the high chairs, pulled away from the to form a semi-circle and face the other three people in the room, Ben, Sebastian and Tory were sitting over the desk in front of the group, Ben hunched over slightly, Sebastian leaning back and supporting his body with his hands pressed flat over the desk, and Tory had her arms crossed over her chest, sitting at the far end with Sebastian between herself and Ben.

“When do you think Tony and Bruce will have the device ready?” asked Ben, the news that a deal would be offered to Loki had been delivered shortly after by Tony himself, leaving behind the part where Bruce and Thor wanted Tory to talk to him.

“I’m guessing that by around midnight” said Howard, he looked down at his watch, night had already fallen and he hadn’t even noticed.

“He’ll be out by half before one” sighed Amanda “I can’t believe we agreed to this”

Tory’s eyebrows shot up as she turned to look at Amanda, but her brother’s eyes jumped to her and Tory decided against saying anything as she locked eyes with Howard.

“This is for the best” shrugged Damara “At least I hope it is”

Tory rolled her eyes, she uncrossed her arms and her hands reached for her hair, Ben and Sebastian glancing at her and Ben wondering how many different hairdos Tory could get in just one day.

“I’m sure they’ll come looking for you before heading down” Mary shrugged, she understood why the others were bugged with the blond Stark, but Mary was trying her best to make this work, especially since Sebastian seemed to be hitting it off so well with her.

Tory glanced at her, “I don’t see the point in them coming to look for me, to go down there with them” she shrugged “They can very well do it themselves”

“Yeah, but you’re the one who talked to him into helping Clint” shrugged Damara, but there was annoyance in her voice.

Tory glanced at her, Damara already looking at her, the blond cocked her head to the left “Huh, yeah” she whispered “Because I was the only one who talked to him from the start, why would he talk to any of you?”

“That he helped Clint doesn’t mean he didn’t do this to him” said Amanda “Or to my dad”

“You’re right” said Sebastian “But he’s the only person who can help up figure all of this, stop Vali and get Natasha back from wherever she is”

“How is Clint doing?” asked Ben, his eyes focusing over Howard.

“He’s still unconscious but stable, Helen’s group want to get him hydrated before he can wake up” he explained “Search for internal wounds, monitor his brain for a few hours”

“Sounds like a good idea” nodded Damara “I don’t want to be the one to say this, but we really do need him out here and helping us with all that’s about to happen”

“There are a few hours till midnight” Tory shrugged, she placed her hands on the edge of the desk “I don’t know about any of you people, but I am starving” and with that she pushed herself of the desk, she landed steady on her feet and turned to head to the door.

“I’ll go with” said Sebastian, he hadn’t had anything to eat since the day had started.

“That’s the spirit, pretty boy” nodded Tory she glanced at him and winked before she continued “And after that, Howard could show you your room”

Howard winced internally, he had totally forgotten about showing Sebastian the place he would be staying at, he had forgotten that Sebastian would be staying with them for the next few days and since Fury had already said it, he would be part of the team.

“Exactly” nodded Howard “I’m gonna get something to eat as well”

He stepped off the chair and without much word from the others, Amanda, Ben, Mary and Damara followed after the trio that had started to make their way towards the door of the lab.

The group walked into the kitchen after a silent ride in the elevator, but somehow, Mary had felt the tension slowly starting to drift from their shoulders, maybe it was the fact that Tory had decided to put aside most of her attitude, or that Clint was recovering or that Loki was somehow helping them, but either way, she was going to celebrate to that.

“Jarvis, do we still have empanadas?” asked Tory, walking directly towards the fridge, Jarvis the drone coming to life from his place over the island.

“Yes” he answered, Tory glanced over her shoulder and smiled at the drone.

“Anyone else want empanadas?” she reached for the freezer’s door.

“I want some” shrugged Damara.

“Just make for everyone, Tory” said Howard.

“Ok, then” she shrugged, she grabbed the bag of homemade Colombian empanadas that Pepper always asked to be brought in and turned to the stove. “Get the oil, Howard, and a pan”

Jarvis set the heat on the stove and just like that, the group slowly started to fall in small tasks, getting the plates, making some ice tea, frying the empanadas, getting dips, it was just like that that they waited for the arrival of Tony, Bruce and Thor, and upcoming barging with the God of Mischief.

 

___________//____________

 

Shane and Tatiana made their way to the kitchen, Helen had asked them to wait outside while they brought Clint back to consciousness and that would take a few more hours, once he was completely hydrated, healed from the wounds he had acquired during the time he was missing and the scans on his head; according to Helen, they could come back at around two to two thirty in the morning.

The twins walked out of the elevator and into the kitchen to be greeted by soft piano music and the smell of several different foods, making Shane’s stomach turn, realizing how hungry he actually was.

But to be honest, what surprised Tatiana the most, was the fact that there was no tension in the air, everyone seemed to be getting along around the kitchen island.

“This is my favorite piece” explained Damara with a shrug, she was sitting Indian style over the ample kitchen island, holding an empanada between a napkin.

“Yeah, this one is from my favorite” Howard agreed, “If I’m not wrong, this was also one of the last ones, you learned how to play” he looked at his sister with a smirk.

“Fuck off, piano boy” she rolled her eyes “I started years after you did, I’d like to see you play the violin”

Howard smirked and shook his head, he knew Tory was still upset about everything that had happened, and a much needed family intervention would be needed when all of this was over and Pepper was back at the Complex, but right now, right now Tory was enjoying the short hours of calm and he would take that.

“You play the violin?” asked Ben, he had his head propped over his hand, some chilly on his plate, he glanced up at her before he reached for some nachos from the bowl next to Damara, the young woman pushed it towards him. “Thanks” she gave him a short smile that didn’t go unnoticed by Amanda.

“Yes” answered Tory, she shrugged and looked down at her plate, she had two more empanadas to go and a few French fries. “Mom wanted us to learn how to play an instrument” she shrugged “I play piano too, like dad’s mom”

“Oh” whispered Sebastian “That’s pretty cool”

“Hey” said Shane, he was walking in front of his sister.

The conversation was cut right into and they all turned to the sound of Shane’s voice.

“Hi” said Mary first “Hi, how’s Clint? Is everything alright?”

“He’s stable, but Helen will bring him to consciousness at around two” explained Shane, “We’d figure we could join you, not stay up there just wondering”

“Sure,” nodded Mary, “Come sit with us”

Shane gave her a small smile and walked up towards them, Tatiana walking behind, she glanced at the group, her eyes drifting over Howard for a moment before she pulled out one of the high chairs, next to Ben and sat down.

“We made you some empanadas” Tory said, Shane glanced at her and she met his gaze “Jarvis was about to ask if you’d like them brought up to you or you’d like to come down” she turned to the drone “Bring the plate, J”

The drone levitated towards the table, he settled down and opened what Tory called its belly, and a plate slipped out with eight empanadas, Tatiana looked down at them and Jarvis closed itself and drifted towards Tory; Shane glanced at the drone, wondering if there had ever been a moment where Jarvis the drone followed Howard more than Tory.

“Thank you” Tatiana whispered, she reached forward and took one of the empanadas, Shane already taking a bite from his.

Tatiana and Shane slowly started to slip into the conversation, eating and talking as the time went by, Ben and Howard were currently talking about a book saga when Tory looked down at her phone to check the time.

“Um, its almost midnight and dad hasn’t come down yet” she looked up at her brother “I’m gonna go check on him, see if everything is alright” Howard looked at her for a moment before Tory rolled her eyes “I’m actually going to see dad, chill, Howard”

And with that she pushed herself off the kitchen island, she landed softly over the floor and the rest watched her as she walked towards the elevator.

“I’ll go with her” said Sebastian, he pushed his chair back and stood up, Damara glancing at Ben before Mary added.

“I’ll join them”

The young woman pushed her chair back and stepped off it, Shane watching her before he turned to look at Sebastian and at Tory who had already disappeared behind the wall and was probably already waiting for the elevator.

“We could just ask Jarvis to … Amanda started, but the ring of the elevator echoed into the room and right into her sentence.

And then the obscenity followed.

“Oh shit”

Howard’s head snapped over his shoulder as he simultaneously pushed his chair back, instantly recognizing his sister’s voice, Amanda pushed herself from her chair and looked at Mary, but the young woman had frozen in place, her eyes wide and her lips gapped.

“Mary!” gasped Shane alarmed at her reaction, he was already moving towards her with Damara behind, before his eyes caught the movement and his ears the words.

“Ms. Stark”

Shane’s eyes snapped up and they grew in size, shock shooting through his body as Bruce, Thor and Tony appeared from the elevator, followed by the owner of the voice.

Loki Laufeyson.

“Don’t talk to her” hissed Tony, he walked past Loki and towards his daughter “Is everyone here?”

“Yes” she answered, her eyes drifting towards her father slowly “Everyone is eating”

“We have to talk, all of us” he continued, his hand landed over her shoulder, softly forcing her to turn around and head back to the kitchen island and meet with the rest of the group.

“What is he doing here?!” Shane snapped, pointing at Loki but his eyes were over Bruce, Sebastian standing next to Tony and Tory.

“We need to talk” said Tony again.

“What is going on?!” Tatiana had emerged to watch what was going on and losing the color on her face as she saw Loki. “Tony?!” she gasped as she looked at him.

“He’s gonna talk to us” explained Thor.

“Finally” shrugged Loki, his eyes drilling into Tatiana before he glanced at Tory by the rear of his eyes, turning to focus on the red head after a few seconds.

“What about my mom?” she accused “Where is she?” she demanded pointing at Loki.

“She’s where you left her” he explained with a lazy look “Down there”

A rage blush spread over her face, she took a deep breath but Howard cut into her thoughts.

“Why is he up here and Nat isn’t?”

“Because he’s going to tell us what’s wrong with Cap” explained Tony, he pinched the bridge of his nose “If what he’s saying is true, he helps Nat, if not, he goes back there”

“That’s it?” gasped Amanda.

“You have better idea, Rogers?” asked Tory, she had her arms crossed over her chest “Because I’m sure you don’t, any of you actually” and Tony felt a weight off his chest as his daughter held her ground by his side.

“Tory” hissed Howard, his eyes over her.

“Don’t” she rolled her eyes and walked towards the kitchen island, her heart was beating madly and the rest of the young Avengers were sitting down around the island to hear what was going on.

The tension that slammed down over the group was crushing over the group as Loki walked up towards the island with Thor and Bruce at his sides, probably because they had been the ones to give him a beating in past fights; the young Avengers had left a gap for the older members of the group, Tony glanced at his daughter and something in him felt relief as Sebastian sat down next to Tory.

Thor pulled out a chair for Loki and he sat down, Bruce sitting at Loki’s left and Thor at his right, even if Loki had the metal bracelet around his wrist, the group had agreed that Thor and Bruce would be a good backup plan in case Loki tried something funny on them. The bracelet had been created on a few designs that Bruce had once made to deal with extraterrestrial forces that SHIELD wanted to lock up, and with some reinforced tech from the Complex, and Thor’s knowledge of Loki’s abilities, they had created a bracelet to avoid the trickster from escaping while out of the cell.

Tatiana sat down next to Shane and Howard, her hand instantly reaching for her brother’s, Shane gave her a squeeze and held her tight as Thor looked at Loki.

“Talk”

“Ouch” Loki faked.

“We don’t have time for this, Loki” said Thor “You’ve wasted enough of it with your silence, now talk”

“Well, when you put it like that” shrugged Loki, he turned from Thor to Tony, the only member of the elders who was not next to him. “It has come to my attention that you believe that your dear Captain has been poison” he started, Damara’s eyes shooting towards Tory as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

Tony tensed his jaw “Was he not?”

“Not exactly” Loki leaned forward, setting his arms over the table “He is getting poisoned, which I guess it’s a relief to know that you are not all a bunch of complete imbeciles”

“Loki” Thor growled, he was getting to last thread of patience with his brother.

Loki made no effort to acknowledge Thor “But that is not the reason he is dying” he glanced at Amanda and Ben, both of them sitting side by side “The reason he is still dying and not yet dead, is simple” he shrugged “My son is an incompetent” he turned to Tony “Keeping the Captain in cryo isn’t going to save his life, it has slowed down part of the process but in less than 48 hours, he will be dead” Tony frowned and his jaw tensed.

“What are you talking about?” gasped Ben.

“He’s tricking us!” snapped Damara pointing at Loki but looking at her father, the words rising over one another.

“Enough” barked Loki, his right hand slamming flat over the surface of the island, its color no longer pale, but his fingers tinted blue; everyone looked at him. “This is a really poor excuse of a replacement group” he looked at Thor “At least your team wasn’t ready to throw a tantrum every ten minutes”

Bruce looked around the table, these were children, children being forced to follow their parents’ steps, and most of them hadn’t even been asked if they wanted to do this.

“He will be dead, unless Vali is stopped” he finally finished, his eyes over Thor. “You see, your children did one thing right” he turned to Victoria “The daggers were not the same” next to her Sebastian seemed to beam up. “The broken dagger is what poisoned dear Captain Rogers”

“The dagger had poison in it?” asked Mary.

“Something like that” he looked at the young woman, she looked nothing like Bruce, but then again he had yet to see if she did turn into the green monster her father was. “You see, there are rituals made in sorcery that require a few things” he shrugged “Vali thought he could sacrifice the Captain, to gain something back from the universe” a smirk drew over his lips “Of course he thought he could take down the Captain, which evidently was proven to be incorrect, the Captain escaped, the ritual was left half done, and that’s why he’s dying”

Loki could feel her eyes over him, slowly as he allowed the information to sink in, he drifted his gaze towards her, her hair was lose over her shoulders, under the light seeming much more lighter than it had appeared when she had been visiting him at his cell; the young woman looked back at him, her eyes strong and Loki raised his left eyebrow oh so gently as they looked at each other before Bruce spoke.

“How exactly do we safe Steve then?” Loki turned to look at him.

“The dagger in the books” he shrugged “Vali has it, it will stop the ritual and it will save the Captain” Bruce looked at him and he felt a tug in his stomach, obviously Hulk was very aware of who this guy was.

“And where is Vali?” Bruce continued.

“Let him come to you” he shrugged “He has to kill the Captain to get what he wants from the universe, which means that he’s probably already here in New York, trying to get his hands on him”

By the rear of his eye he caught the way Tory’s eyebrow rose, he shrugged and drummed his fingers over the island, the young woman looked down at them and Loki slowly spread his fingers open, for a moment, Tory looked at his fingers, they had returned to their usual pale color and then he saw her nod once by the rear of his eyes.

 _Message understood_ her nod meant, since her _Trust Me_ message had been delivered to his cell on an open hand, he was expecting her to understand that his flattened hand over the island meant the same.

“You say Vali tried to kill Steve to make a deal with the universe,” Thor said, his voice hoarse and Loki turned to look at him, he had always mocked Thor for his preference of fists over brains, but that didn’t mean that Loki wasn’t aware that Thor was in fact incredibly intelligent. “That sorcery can only be performed by a very few, mother amongst them,” Loki nodded, Frigga’s memory always next to his heart, “Asking something from the universe must be specific, precise, detailed” Thor narrowed his eyes “What does your son expect to get from the universe?”

“To ask something from the universe you must make a sacrifice that is worth it” explained Loki “You think this is the first time he has tried this?” he tasted bitterness in his tongue “The Captain wasn’t his first choice, but it was the second best”

“And you know this, why?” snapped Ben.

“I stopped him the first time he tried” Loki explained, and his voice had turned stern “Almost managed to kill him”

“Killing him would have saved us all of his” hissed Amanda.

“Not really” said Thor, he looked at Loki “Vali inherited a particular skill that only a select number have around the realms” he turned to look at Amanda “He has seven lives”

“Five now” said Loki, Thor’s head snapped to him “I don’t know who took his second life, but it doesn’t really matter”

“So what?” Damara growled “He tried to kill you the first time, and you stopped him, so he came for Steve?”

“No” Loki shrugged “He tried to kill you” he said as he turned to look at his brother.

Silence fell in the room as the Norse brothers looked at each other, Thor’s eyes wide and somehow looking younger than they had in years, Loki looking back at him with eyes that looked older, but steady.

“Me?” whispered Thor. “Why would he try to kill me?”

“Because I already told you,” Loki sighed “He needs an offering just as big as what he is expecting to get in return”

“And what does he want?” Thor had almost forgotten the rest of the people in the room.

“This is a life for a life, kind of sacrifice” Loki shrugged, “The Captain’s life for another life in return”

“Hela?” asked Thor, his eyes sharpening.

“To get Hela I’m sure he’d need more than a common midgardian” Loki sounded insulted, even if he was the one delivering the insult “No, BROTHER, but it is someone we both know very well” he leaned towards Thor, the blond Norse god frowned, Loki snapped his eyes away from Thor and looked at Tony “He’s name is Malekith and he’s the leader of the Dark Elves”


	35. Selfish, Safe and Sound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki explains himself, Damara talks to her father, the deal is almost complete.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gif fest sorry :D

Thor looked at his brother, his heart hammering madly in his chest, his lungs constricting inside his boy, making it hard for him to breath, his eyes were searching Loki’s for some kind of hint to figure out if he was lying to him, but he knew that even if Loki was indeed lying, he wouldn’t be able to figure it out, this was Loki after all; Loki stared back at his brother, green eyes merging with the sky blue eyes that belonged to Thor, he had lied countless times before to him, he had cheated and manipulated him so many times that he wasn’t sure when it had all begun, but there was no lie here, this was the truth.

“How can this be?” Thor whispered, his brain forgetting completely that there were others sitting around the table with them. “How did he find him? What was there to find of Malekith after what we accomplished?”

“I don’t think there was anything to find from Malekith except, if maybe, the armor he died with” Loki explained “But what he did find, was a book in the Hong Kong Sanctum”

“The Sanctum?” Tony frowned, his voice reminding Thor that he was not alone with his younger brother, Loki tore his eyes away from Thor and turned to Tony. “Master Minoru’s Sanctum?”

“Exactly that one” Loki agreed “He found the book that taught him how the exchange could be made”

“How did he get access to the Sanctum?” Bruce asked, he leaned over the table and looked at Thor before he turned back to Loki. “The way its guarded, he had to be invited inside, even more if he had managed to go through their archives”

“He wasn’t just invited in” Loki hissed “He lived in one of the Sanctums”

And silence fell over the group, Tony’s neck hissing in pain and he snapped his head towards Thor, because apparently there had been a piece of information that had been missed or that he hadn’t heard because it now seemed like they had invited the enemy into their own house.

“How is that possible?” asked Amanda, her eyebrow raised as she looked at Loki, Loki tapped his long fingers over the table before he answered.

“Surprising, isn’t it?” he glanced at Bruce and Tony “That Strange never mentioned that he trained my son for two years”

“You’re lying” Tony spat rapidly, his hands pressed flat over the table, “Stephen would have never taken someone like him under his wing”

“I don’t think he knew the kind of crazy Vali has inside him” Loki answered “I don’t even think Vali knew it, either” Tony looked at Loki, and for a split second he wondered how this must feel, to have a son so willing to kill and destroy and burn everything he touched.

“So, he trained at the Sanctum?” Ben asked.

“He did” Loki glanced at him “Until he was exiled, of course” he swallowed, there had been a time when he had loved his son, that love had died tragically years ago “When Strange figured out that Vali had been researching about Dormammu and Kaecilius and other dark masters. That’s the reason he was exiled, and Vali… he looked down at his hand “He snapped” he looked up at Thor “And that’s how it all began”

“When did this happen?” asked Sebastian, “When was he exiled from the Sanctum?”

“About three years ago” Loki answered as he looked at the new member of the team.

“Jesus Christ” whispered Mary, she ruffled her hair and looked down at the table.

“Do you know how to stop him?” asked Thor.

“Like I said before, he will come to where Rogers is” Loki answered “He has to finish what he started if he wants to get the general for his army, who better than Malekith?” he shrugged “Until then, he will use the forces he has, I’m assuming rogue warriors that owe him their freedom,” he cocked his head “He will bring them here to get the Captain, you just have to wait for him”

“How will he get here?” asked Howard, “How will he bring his army here?”

“It’s not an army yet, he needs Malekith for that” Loki corrected him “But if I were to try and take over Midgard again, without the Chitauri army, I would come from underground”

“A portal underground, the minerals in the soil will help with the opening” Thor agreed “Help stabilize and keep it open without him present there”

“Exactly” Loki nodded, “That’s how he will get here”

“Those were the waves Darcy was helping us code” Bruce pointed out “The alteration in the electric waves, it’s the portal, isn’t it?”

“It is” Loki nodded.

The tension in the room could be touched, it screamed loudly back at every single one of them and although Loki was sharing with them a lot of information that brought a hundred different answers, it also brought new questions; Ben gapped his lips and took a deep breath, being a SHIELD agent brought with it adrenaline and a hundred different puzzles and mission after mission, but this, being an Avenger was nothing like Ben had ever imagined.

Being an Avenger meant coming face to face with epic levels of anxiety and having to work around it, it meant coming with a hundred different paths to follow and still having to create a new one to find a solution. Being in SHIELD meant that he had to follow the path that would lead to the best way to accomplish the mission, gather the information, but being an Avenger meant they had to figure a way to save everyone, to sacrifice themselves without a second thought, and right now, as they all stared back at Loki, Ben wondered how were supposed to close a portal that was going to open inside a tunnel in New York.

“How do we find the tunnel?” asked Mary, she frowned and cocked her head to the left.

“That I don’t know” Loki shrugged “Everything comes full circle when Vali manifests himself,” he glanced across the room, his eyes roamed over the men that he had fought before, remaining over Tony the longest; the man rubbed his left arm up and down, before Tony looked up at Thor, not noticing that Loki was looking at him.

“Ok, then we need a plan” Sebastian spoke “A strategy to fight the people that Vali has hired,” he turned to look at Tony “Mr. Stark, you said that you had been coding the change in the waves in New York, then maybe that way we could figure out where he’s going to come from and then make out a plan to stop him”

Tony turned to look at him, this young man that Fury had brought himself, there was something about him that reminded Tony of the first time he had met Steve, ready to jump into action, the plan probably already starting to appear in his mind, and Tony had disliked Steve at the beginning, they were so different, but now, now Tony was older and he knew better, and he couldn’t help but smile softly as he thought that Steve would like Sebastian and his proactive attitude.

“Let’s do it” Tony nodded.

 

___________//____________

 

The words had barely left Tony’s words when Thor threw the chair back and pushed himself up to his feet, his hands pressed flat over the table, which slid slightly with a screech, Bruce winced loudly and shifted his head to the left and towards his shoulder.

“I have to go” Thor said, his voice was shaking and even if it was still a booming tone, the quivering wave in his voice was visible for everyone.

Loki looked up at him briefly before he looked down at his own hand over the table, his jaw tense, he couldn’t lie, he had made Thor’s life a living hell for several years but now, to see him like this was like a dagger digging into his chest; he glanced to the other end of the table and noticed Tory looking at him, he looked back at her for a second before his attention was drawn by Thor hurrying out of the room.

“Thor!” Tony called out after him, the genius pushed the chair back and pushed himself up to his feet as well, his hair flopping over his head, he took a step back, ready to go after his friend when Damara spoke.

“I’ll go”

“Mara” Ben whispered, reaching out to her from his seat next to hers but Damara was already stepping away from the table, ignoring Ben and hurrying towards the door and after her father.

Thor had left the room visibly upset, his stride was quick and strong as he hurried down the hallway, his mind was going a hundred miles per hour, the last time Malekith had been in the picture, Thor had asked his friends to commit treason for him, his first love had almost been killed by Malekith, and he had thought his brother had died; and now to know that there was a possibility of Malekith coming back, was making Thor’s head and heart go a hundred miles per minute.

Damara rushed after him, her hair tied on a braid was bouncing against her back and her tennis shoes squeaked against the pristine floor.

“Dad!” she called after him, Thor took a curve and hesitated for a moment as he heard the voice of his first child, but still he continued down the hallway and towards the elevator. “DAD STOP!” she cried loudly out to him, she didn’t have to see his face or hear his voice to see all the distress and anxiety rushing out of him

She pumped her legs harder and took the curve rapidly, her feet skidded over the floor and for a second, she thought she was going to slip and crash onto the floor, but her legs went on and she barked out to her dad one last time before he finally stopped.

“Fuck” she panted as she trotted up to her father “Thank you” she frowned and looked up at him. “Where are you going?” she popped her hip to the left and placed her hand over her waist.

Thor looked down at her, she was slim and petite and her eyes were huge, and anyone could think she was fragile but they would have been so wrong; there was a light that sizzled behind her eyes that could tell anyone careful enough to look, that she was a force not to be reckoned with, her chest was rising and falling as she looked up at him, waiting for an answer.

“I need to talk to Sif” he explained “Arrangements need to be made, to secure Asgard and for your arrival”

“What?” her frown got deeper, a taken aback look on her face “What do you mean arrival?”

“I’m getting Jane out of here” he explained, his hand waving softly around him “And I am sending you with her to Asgard, the only place that I’ll know you two will be safe”

Damara looked at him, her lips gapped and her eyes wide and she reminded him so much of Jane “Are you insane?” he frowned, taken aback by her answer and the way she sounded so surprised, but not entirely surprised by her words. “I can’t leave”

“My family feuds have brought to much pain to the people I love” Thor explained, “I cannot bare to think that you will be dragged into it as well” he shook his head “My heart couldn’t not bare the loss of you, I would not survive it, I would not be able to forgive myself if my father’s lack of parenting skills tainted your life as well” Damara felt her throat ball up. “I have loved you since the day I learned about your mother’s pregnancy,” he reached out and cupped the side of her face. “You don’t understand, but Asgard is the only place where you will be safe, I can’t risk you being here when Malekith is brought back, you haven’t seen him, Mara, and you don’t know what I know”

“I love you more than anything, dad” she reached up and touched his hand with hers, leaning her face against his calloused hand. “But this is not how we do things in our family, it doesn’t matter how your father did things, you are not your dad, you are mine, and you are better than him, so much more” and Damara had never met Odin, but she knew this from the things she had heard from everyone, on Earth and Midgard.

“Mara, please” he whispered and slowly pulled his hand away from her face.

“Dad, no” she tensed her legs, almost as if she was getting ready to fight Thor if he dared to drag her to the elevator and out into the field were the Bifrost was summoned.

“Mara” he frowned down at her, his jaw tensing and outside lightning struck the night sky.

“Dad” she said almost as soon as he was done saying her name. “I can’t leave”

“Your safety…

“What about them?” she pointed behind her, her eyes not leaving Thor’s “What about their safety? They need me, they need us, dad”

“Mara please” he whispered and there as so much pain in his voice, so many horrible things had happened when and after Malekith had appeared in Thor’s life, years ago, he looked away from her and down at his feet. “Please”

“You can take mom to Asgard” she nodded at him, her voice made him look up at her and she gave him a soft smile “But I can’t leave, we need to fight him, before he gets the chance to bring Malekith back, before he hurts Steve more than he already has” and Damara knew that it would be a petty move, she knew it would hit right in his hear, but she needed to make her father understand, this wasn’t his choice. “The Starks, Amanda and Ben stayed, I have to stay” he looked at her and she saw sadness in his eyes, she had hit right where she had wanted “I want to stay, to finish this” she reached to him and took his hand gently, his rough skin against her smooth and soft one “I’m an Avenger, I don’t run” he closed his eyes and she saw a single tear rush down his cheek and her heart broke “You don’t run either, we are Avengers, Asgardians”

Thor smiled softly despite the hurt in his heart and the tears that were threatening to slip from his face, this was his girl, she was strong and brave and she had made him proud since the day Jane had brought her to this world and maybe Jane and himself were no longer together, but together they had made a soul so perfect that Thor couldn’t imagine a universe where Damara wasn’t in his life.

He had been wanting to be selfish, to get her away from here, to keep his daughter safe when the rest of the youngsters were out there risking their lives, but that was not his choice to make, and even if this was not what he wanted for his daughter, he was swelling with pride and he knew she would have never settled for less.

“We don’t run” he agreed and he opened his eyes and looked at her, her smile growing as she looked at him, and  Thor couldn’t help but smile at her with love and a thunder stroke loudly outside and Damara chuckled as she gave his hand a loving squeeze.

“I’ll be fine, dad” the determination in her voice was something he had never heard before “I have you, we have the team” she nodded, she wasn’t sure how or when it had started but she felt like she was starting to trust them “We can do this, as long as we do it…

“Together” Thor interrupted her, and the words reminded him so much of Steve that his chest hurt, his friend was in agony and Vali would be stopped, there was no doubt about that; there had never been.

 

___________//____________

 

The crystal door gleamed with the light above, now that Loki’s cell was empty, the light inside the cell had been turned off and now only the light that remained permanently turned on was the one in the cell where Natasha sat alone.

Natasha had her eyes over the group standing at the other side, Tony, Tatiana, Thor and Loki stared back at her, the rest of the group had stayed upstairs, with Bruce and Shane going to check on Clint’s recovery, something that they were being aid in by Shuri all the way in Wakanda.

Her eyes drilled into Loki’s but Loki knew better than to think that the Russian assassin was the one who was staring back at him; he cocked his head to the left and Tony walked towards the control panel, he looked down at his watch and the new code for the door appeared over it, swiftly, he typed it over the control panel and the door was lift open.

Thor walked inside first, Natasha’s eyes drifted towards him and Loki wondered if Vali was thinking about his failed attempt to kill Thor as he watched the King of Asgard through Natasha’s eyes.

Vali was a man of many defects, that was something Loki had not lied about, he was a man who had committed unforgivable acts, but he that being said, he wasn’t stupid enough to try and fight Thor, Tatiana and Tony, maybe even Loki, in a closed space like the one he was inside at the moment.

Natasha took a gentle step back as Thor approached her, his rough hand reached out and he held Natasha’s arm, he had fought alongside this powerful woman in countless of times, he had joked with her in the domestic environment of the Complex, he had cooked with her and he was the godfather to one of the twins, he loved this woman, and he loved her husband, and he wanted to see her out of this state; he wanted Natasha back.

“Be careful with your next step, Reindeer Games” Tony said loud enough.

Loki smirked wickedly as he walked up towards Natasha, he had done this before, but there was a thrill he always got when he was the one with the power, and at the moment, even if he was the one being escorted to the cell, he was the one who called the shots.

His right hand reached out to Natasha but the woman took a step back, Thor’s grip on her arm tightened and he held her in place, Tatiana tensing her jaw as hard as she could, her teeth hurting as she forced herself to look at her mother, that wasn’t really her mother at the moment, because she had to bare with this, she had to be able to look at this happen and continue with her job, because as much as she was in pain at the moment, right now she wasn’t Natasha’s daughter, she was Tatiana Barton, agent of SHIELD and Avenger.

“I’ll see you soon” Loki hissed and he pressed the pad of his palm over her forehead, Tatiana held her breath and then the green flames flickered out of Loki’s palm, growing by the second and she tried to step back but Thor held her harder; the flames sizzled and licked the air around her before they wrapped themselves around her face and her head.

Natasha opened her mouth as she gasped for air, the flames weren’t burning into her but there was a heat spreading around her as she tried to squirm away from Thor, but he held her in her place; she threw her head back and the flames intensified, her eyes rolled to the back of her head, she felt her throat on fire but it was just the sensation before everything went black and she staggered to the side.

Thor acted quick and held Natasha before she could collapse on the floor, her deep hair waved around her and tickled his arms as Thor adjusted his grip on her and finally managed to pull her up in his arms, bridal style.

Loki stepped away from Natasha and Thor, Thor turned to Tatiana and gave her a nod, the young woman released the breath she had been holding and nodded back at him.

“Let’s take her up with Clint” Tony said, Thor nodded.

“And then you keep the other side of the deal” Loki turned to Tony and Tatiana, his movements as fluid as they had been the first time they had met him, and Tony couldn’t help but wonder if this man ever aged.

“As long as you don’t decide to try anything funny” Tatiana attacked, Loki smirked as he turned to look at her.

“I’ll try my best”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its been like a hundred years since I post this story, but its back with all force and please let me know what you think :D
> 
> Thank you and love to all <3 <3 <3


	36. In the Middle of the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Howard talks to his sister, and Sebastian sees something shady.

The night rolled into the Avengers Complex, stretching it tiring tentacles throughout the building, slithering into the bodies of every person that currently was making a home out of the Complex; Natasha had been accommodated in the medical bay next to her husband, different tests had started to be run on her, just like it had been done with Clint, supervised by Shuri all the way from Wakanda. Tests run through one of her many technological devices that T’Challa had taken to the Complex; Wakanda still had without doubt the best technology, but the Black Panther wasn’t going to allow the Avenger’s Complex to be without inventions of his sister, he was after all not only King and protector of Wakanda, but also a member of the Avengers as well.

Despite understanding the pain and worry, Tatiana and Shane were asked to head to their rooms, and reluctantly they had agreed, right now their parents were not to be disturbed and neither were the people who were handling their recovery; they had left the medical bay with the hope that Shuri had given them that their parents would be conscious the next day, there would be no doubt about that.

And like that, everyone had slowly retired to their own rooms, they would regroup early in the morning to finish preparing the defense and attack strategy to face Vali and his misfit army; at least now they seemed to have the upper hand in what was going on.

Howard stepped out of the elevator, the light of the hallway turning on before the doors had finished opening up for the Stark boy; he had been in the sixth floor of the north wing showing Sebastian the place he would be sleeping in as long as he was in the Complex, it was the last available room in that floor, but Tony had insisted on all the youngsters sleeping close by and so Howard had taken Sebastian there.

The young man passed a hand over his head, ruffling his hair, before his hand slid down the back of his head and he rubbed the nape of his neck as he made his way down the hallway of the east wing, his feet taking him towards one of the labs; his body felt like it weight a hundred tons and like he had lived a thousand lives, he was sure he’d never felt this tired in his life.

He knew all of the newcomers had retreated to their rooms, only Tatiana and Shane had bunked together in her room, huddled together to share their silent preoccupations and doubts as they waited throughout the excruciating night for their parents to finally wake up; and there was no lie, he felt like dragging himself all the way to his room, he wanted to drop over the bed, and he was sure he’d fall asleep as soon as he touched the pillow, but there was something he had to do before he could head to his room.

No matter how much his muscles aches, his mind wouldn’t be at rest if he didn’t make a stop before he made his way towards his room; because the thing was, for better or for worse, he had to talk to his sister first.

He made his way towards the lights of the lab, Jarvis had already told him that his sister was there, which probably meant that he had also already told Tory that Howard was on his way to talk to her.

There was no music on when he walked in, which could mean that she was already packing up or she was just too into her job to have bothered to ask Jarvis to put on some music.

“Howard is here” Jarvis the drone spoke out, his voice soft but it resonated loudly into the empty room, Howard rolled his eyes with annoyance, wishing that for once, Jarvis would just step down.

“Thanks” said Howard, he walked towards his sister, she was sitting behind a desk, and was pulling apart the core of one of her old suits, Howard frowned at that.

“What do you want?” Tory asked, her eyes narrowed behind the protection goggles as she plied away the part she wanted, she set down her tool and looked up at her brother, the table separating them. “What is it?” she frowned, suddenly horrified that something might have happened to Clint, Nat or Steve

“I wanted to talk to you” he explained, there was a certain way in which she was holding herself that rung alarms in the back of Howard’s mind.

“Oh” she cocked her head to the left and shrugged “No, thank you” and she looked down at the piece she had just pulled apart.

“Tory, come on” he sighed, he pressed his hands flat over the desk, shifting his weight from one leg to the other “I know you’re upset about what happened, about what we asked you to do, and I understand that you are angry, but we have to talk about it, you can’t bottle it up, bottled up emotions burst out in the worse ways and you know that”

“You think I’m upset about what you guys asked me to do?” she asked, she looked up at her brother, she dropped the item she had been holding and her right hand shot out to her face, she grabbed the elastic of the goggles and she yanked them off her head, hair ripping off with it, but she didn’t seem to notice. “I’m not upset about that, at all, actually”

“I could see the anger all over your face, I’ve known you all your life, I know when you’re angry” he pointed out. “It’s that same look you have now, I know you’re still upset”

“Oh, I am angry” she nodded as she narrowed her eyes “But not about what you all asked me to do” she shrugged and discarded the goggles over the desk. “You know fucking well, why I’m angry, Howard”

“Ok, great” he nodded, his hair flopping over his head “Then let’s talk about it, we are never like this with each other, we talk shit, we scream if we have to, just… he tensed his jaw and looked down at the mess on the desk “Don’t be like this” he looked up at her.

Don’t be self-destructive is what he really meant.

“Yeah, well” she shrugged “I really don’t want to talk right now, because you have this thing going on, that I really can’t stand at the moment”

“What thing?” he frowned and looked down at himself.

“Your face” she answered shortly, his head snapped up to her.

“Oh come on!” he groaned and rolled his eyes “Tory please, come on”

“Tory please nothing!” she barked and pointed at him “Please? I asked you to please believe me, how fucking dare you?!” she slammed her hand flat over the desk, Howard’s eyes never leaving hers. “I’m not upset about what they asked me to do” she continued “I’m angry at you” she pointed at him with her right hand. “And you know that” he pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth as he looked at her “How dare you ask me to go do the same thing I was punished for suggesting?”

“We were wrong” he admitted.

“No shit, Sherlock” she shook her head “They would have believed you, if you had listened to me, they would have believed you” and there was now hurt with anger in her voice “But you chose to side with them, with your redheaded girlfriend and the oh so righteous Rogers, you chose to believe them instead of me! How could you not believe me!?” she asked.

“You were asking me to trust you, when you trusted Rudolph the killer Reindeer downstairs, before you trusted me” he attacked back “I wanted to believe you, Tory, but fuck, you made it so hard” he shook his head “Why do you always make it so hard? You didn’t have to lie, you could have told me that you had talked to him, you could have trusted me, and then I would have trusted you back”

“I went to talk to him after dad asked us not to, you really think anyone would have looked at that with objectivity?” Tory asked, she raised an eyebrow at him “Because I’m sure as hell wouldn’t have”

“Why would you do that, Vic?” he finally asked, his shoulders dropping, it had been a question that was burning into him since he had seen the footage of Tory and Loki talking.

“I didn’t go to see him at first with the intention of talking to him” Tory answered, she shifted her body on the chair, and leaned her elbows over the edge of the table. “I just wanted to see him, he had destroyed my suit with just a touch, I wanted to know how he had done it”

Howard looked at her, adjusting to all of these new situations had proven to be difficult to everyone involved. “Fine,” he nodded “And then? When you went back after dad asked you not to? You altered the Complex and Jarvis to stop it from recording the sound”

Tory looked at him, and she knew she was upset for something that she wasn’t giving her brother either, instead she was feeding Howard half-truths, because she wasn’t sure she could trust him entirely.

“The first time I was there, I said something about Steve, implying that he had done it” she explained “He asked me if I believed he was responsible for this” she shrugged “I left and then I couldn’t stop thinking about it” Howard kept looking at her, both of their eyes tired but there was something about her eyes that told him that she was probably pass tired. “I just couldn’t stop thinking about it” she said again, she frowned for a moment, her eyes zoning away from him for a second “I couldn’t stop thinking about it” she sighed before she looked up at her brother once more “And I went through all the scenarios in my mind, why here, why him, why was he alone, everything, Howard, I thought about all of it, and I couldn’t help myself”

And Howard knew all too well what she was saying, overthinking was something that was very present in their family, Tony was the one who did it more often, but Tory was right there behind him, and after what had happened with Leia, it was a recurring action in her mind.

“Then when all I did was come back to the same conclusion, I went back down there” she said with a shrug, “And I told him that I didn’t believe he hadn’t done any of this, and then I fucked with the Complex and that was that”

“You talked for five minutes, what did he tell you?” Howard asked, his voice was stern, mostly because he was worried.

“He told me he hadn’t done it, that his son was responsible for this, that Vali was coming to New York” she sighed and looked down at her hands “He asked me to let him go” she lied as she looked up at her brother “To get him out of there and that he could help us figure out the rest, I said I couldn’t do it, that I had to talk to the others, that maybe he should talk to Thor, he said that it was now or never, I said no, and I left”

They looked at each other, her eyes tired and worn and Howard wondered when the last time she had slept was, because it wasn’t that she didn’t get a decent sleep, it was that Tory, like Tony, could go on prolonged hours just surviving on incredibly strong coffee and sometimes energy drinks.

Howard’s mind was screaming at him, how badly he wanted to believe her, how badly he wanted to finally put this behind them, but then there was history, and history had showed him how good of a liar his sister was, Natasha had called her a natural born liar, and Howard wasn’t sure that was as good as Tasha had thought.

So Howard went with the only tactic he hadn’t tried with his sister. “You better not be lying to me” and that was anger.

She looked at him, Howard with his stern and tired eyes, with his soul already fed up with all the nonsense she put on him on a daily basis, no wonder he had finally changed with her in the past few days, she knew she deserved it.

“I’m not” she answered, and they both knew that he couldn’t tell if it was true or not, and partially it was true, but only partially.

How long was he going to allow her to string him along?

“Ok” he nodded at her, and for the first time since forever, she believed his lie. “You should go to bed soon”

“I’m sorry I lied to you” she said, he looked down at her, she was moving an object mindlessly as she looked at him, and he wondered how it had happened that they had landed on different teams? After all, they had always been a team, always both of them, and now it was Howard and the Avengers and Tory and Loki.

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you” he said, and he felt a weight being lifted from his shoulders.

“I guess we both fucked up, huh?” she looked down at the piece of metal she was moving around.

“I guess we did” Howard nodded, he looked at the metal she was holding, and the air felt heavy between them, like they had no idea how to be around each other anymore, and Howard tightened his jaw as he tried to think how to undo this, how to make things better, how to make things the way they were before.

“ _Before what?”_ he asked himself “ _Before tonight? Before the others got here?”_ he swallowed hard “ _Before Leia?”_ she looked up at him “ _Before we were like this with each other”_ he thought as he looked up at her.

“I’m gonna try to get some sleep” he spoke, his voice didn’t sound the way it should, and Tory winced internally. “Don’t stay long here”

“I won’t” she nodded at him.

And with words unspoken, Howard pushed himself away from the desk and walked away, Tory watched him go for a moment before she turned to grab the notebook she had over the desk, she hunched over it and started to write rapidly.

Howard dragged himself towards the elevator, he hadn’t felt lighter after talking to his sister, but there was nothing else he could do about their relationship at the moment, maybe when this was all over, maybe then they would be able to find their way back to what they used to be before all of this started.

 

___________//____________

 

Sebastian made his way down the hallway in the darkness, Jarvis had asked him if he wanted the lights to be turned on as he walked through the Complex, but Sebastian had long ago found comfort in the dark and so he made his way aimlessly guided only by the soft light of his cellphone.

He had heard about the Complex before, Mary had been here a few times with her father, usually on those very rare times when she had been able to convince her grandfather to let her leave the base for three or four days; that had ended once Ross had learned that Bruce was no longer living permanently in Wakanda.

This place looked like it had been pulled out completely from a futuristic scifi movie, but on the other hand, he wasn’t sure what else he had expected from a master piece created by Tony Stark and King T’Challa; the huge glass panels that served as walls for most of the hallways, allowed a clear view outside, and right now, he was close enough to watch the glimmer of the moon on the body of water, most of it was also part of the Complex.

The Complex was, at the end of the day, incredible.

Howard had showed him his room about two hours ago, his bag was already there sitting over the desk of the room, and Sebastian had the sad thought that this place had so many spare rooms, when most of the population there just came and went; nothing permanent like the Starks.

The young man had looked over the attack plan that they had been forming a few hours ago, before Bruce had pointed out the worn out brains couldn’t really work that good, and so the group had walked slowly towards their bedrooms, the sensation of helplessness and hurt and anger was hanging heavy around the Complex.

After adding a few notes to the plan, he had decided to go out for something to drink and then, after he had had some water and something to eat, he had set off to head back to his room, but his mind was still running and so, he had ended up walking up and down the hallways, looking around, admiring the way the world seemed to change once the lights were off, once the sound was gone, when it seemed that he was the only one left.

It was a thing he had found joy in doing after his mother had died, when he had been a kid, they used to walk around the base at night, and the darkness had become a way of remembering her, of being with her now that she was gone.

He could see the entrance to a room just ahead, a room that if he wasn’t wrong in his directions would be the main living room, he approached the entrance when the soft beep of the elevator echoed in the darkness and the emptiness of the Complex; Sebastian stopped in his tracks as light flooded the room he had been just a few steps away from reaching and then he heard the soft fall of steps.

Sebastian hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should walk into the living room, the last thing he wanted was to interrupt a private moment from someone there, after all, everyone was in desperate need for a private space to let out the horrors and pains that had been gathering in the bodies of all of them.

He stood next to the entrance of the living room, with the cover of the night and part of the wall, he hesitated as he looked at the light on the floor, he had gotten here that same day and there had been a resistance from almost everyone except Mary, Howard and Tory, so he was quite sure that if the person at the other side of the wall wasn’t Mary, they wouldn’t seem pleased to see him pop out form nowhere.

The young man, who had lived and trained all his life in the military base, who had become one of the best soldiers both Rhodey and Sam Wilson had ever seen, strained his ears and took half a step forward as he heard objects being moved, he moved as quietly as he could, leaning forward slightly, straining his neck and looking inside just enough to catch a glimpse of the person in the living room.

At the far end of the room, stood a bookshelf that went from floor to roof, books spines of all colors and letters and width stared back at whomever walked into the room, and Sebastian guessed that this must be one of the personal libraries, as he watched Victoria Stark pulling out a book with a cream color cover, he quirked an eyebrow.

Victoria had been really receptive about his presence, they had talked and she hadn’t seemed that hostile with him as she had been with the rest of the group, and Sebastian was sure that if he made his presence noticed by the young woman, she would strike conversation with him, but there was something about the whole scene that looked out of place.

She popped her hip to the left and looked down at the book as she opened it, flipping through a few pages before her right hand went to the pocket of her sweater and she pulled out a paper, that from Sebastian’s distance seemed to be folded in half, she placed the paper in the opened pages of the book and then closed it quickly, she looked down at the cover for a few seconds before she pushed the book back in its place; Sebastian raised a questioning eyebrow as he watched.

The young woman stood there, staring at the books, but Sebastian wasn’t even sure that she was looking at the books at all, she cocked her head to the left and then reached over and pulled out another different book; the young woman looked down at the book, her thumbs caressed the cover before she turned and stepped towards the sofa in the room, she hesitated and then sat down.

“I hadn’t seen you in a while” she whispered into the empty room, Sebastian noticed the nostalgic tone in her voice; the sad tone.

Sebastian knew there was no way he could just walk into the room, but that being said, he had to make sure to find a moment the next day, to check out the cream colored book.

And in a few hours, Sebastian would find out what was going on.

Partially at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this, let me know what you think :3 :D


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